i   • 


1 


CALIFCRN*A 


i 


^' 


A 
COMPENDIOUS  ABSTRACT 

OF 

THE  HISTORY 

OP 

THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST, 

FROM  ITS  FIRST  FOUNDATION  TO  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 

WITH  V 

A  faithful  and  circumstantial  Account  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles;  of  the  Lives  of 

the  Primitive  Christians  ;  of  the  general  Persecutions  raised  against  them  by 

the  Pagan  Emperors  ;  of  the  (Ecumenical  Councils ;  of  the  chief  Pastors, 

of  the  Condemnation  of  ancient  Heresies  ;  of  the  defective  Systems  of 

Pagan  Philosophy;  of  the  Dispersion  of  the  Jews,  the  Destruction 

of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  vain  Attempt  of  the 

Emperor  Julian  to  rebuild   it ;    of   tho    Downfall    of 

Idolatry ;  of  the  Supjiression  of  Schisms ;  of  the 

Conversion  of  Nations  ;  of  the  Rise  of  Ma- 

hometanism ;  of  the  Crusades  ; 

WITH  SEVERAL  OTHER 

REMARKABLE  EVENTS  AND  OCCURRENCES. 

ILLUSTRATED    WITH 

A  brief  detail  of  the  eminent  Virtues  and  Apostolic  Labours  of  the  holy  Fath(5X»| 

learned  Doctors,  ecclesiastical  Writers,  renowned  Martyrs,  and  other 

great  Saints,  who  have  flourished  in  every  Age 

down  to  the  present,  &c. 

"  Upon  this  Rock  I  will  build  my  Church,  and  the  Gates  of  Hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  her.^^  'St.  M^tt.  c.  16.  v.  18. 


BY  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  GAHAN,  O.  g.  A. 

PHILADELPHIA :  ' 

PUBLISHED  BY  EUGENE  CUMMISKEY. 

Stereotyped  by  S.  Walker  «&  Co.  Boston. 

1825. 


lOAN  STACK 


mm 

,Lk  gethsemani  abbey, 

/»5<^       GETHSEf-^ANI.P.O.KY. 

CONTENTS. 


page. 
CHAPTER  I.    The  wonderful  wisdom  and  goodness  displayed 
by  Jesus  Christ  in  the  formation  of  his  Church.  13 

II.  The  Apostles  begin  the  great  work  of  the  conversion  of  the 
world,  and  establish  a  Church  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  18 

III.  The  gates  of  the  Church  are  opened  to  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
Apostles  announce  the  happy  tidings  of  salvation  to  different 
nations.  .  ,  26 

IV.  The  stupendous  progress  of  the  Christian  Religion,  and  the 
happy  effects  it  produced  in  the  world.  34 

V.  The  necessity  of  the  Christian  Religion  evinced  from  the  de- 
fective systems  of  Pagan  Philosophy.  39 

VI.  The  means  established  by  the  Apostles  for  preserving  the 
Christian  Religion  in  its  primitive  purity.  4G 

VII.  All  the  Apostles  crowned  with  martyrdom.  53 

VIII.  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  dispersion  of  the 
Jewish  nation.  57 

IX.  The  three  first  general  persecutions.  61 

X.  The  Church  of  the  second  century.  66 

XI.  The  fourth  and  fifth  general  persecutions.  84 

XII.  The  Church  of  the  third  century.  90 

XIII.  The  five  last  general  persecutions.  109 

XIV.  The  persecutors  of  the  Church  overtaken  in  this  life  by  the 
avenging  justice  of  God.  119 

XV.  The  Church  of  the  fourth  century.  124 

XVI.  The  Emperor  Julian  apostatizes,  and  attempts  to  re-esta- 
blish Paganism,  &c.  169 

XVII.  Of  the  persecutions  raised  by  Valens,  the  Vandals,  and 
Persians  ;  and  of  the  second  general  council,  under  Theodo- 
sius  the  Great.  175 

XVIII.  The  Church  of  the  fifth  century.  180 

XIX.  The  Church  of  the  sixth  century.  198 

XX.  The  demolition  of  old  Pagan  Rome,  ana  the  rise  of  new 
Christian  Rome  from  its  ashes.  211 

XXI.  The  Church  of  the  seventh  century.  217 

XXII.  The  rise  and  progress  of  Mahometanism.  222 

XXIII.  The  Church  of  the  eighth  century.  227 

XXIV.  The  Church  of  the  ninth  century.  ^  238 

XXV.  The  revival  of  the  Western  Empire,  &c.  by  Charles  the 
Great.  243 

XXVI.  The  Church  of  the  tenth  century.  247 

XXVII.  The  Church  of  the  eleventh  century.  253 

XXVIII.  Of  the  Crusades  and  military  orders.  261 

XXIX.  The  Church  of  the  tyyrelfth  century^  '  269 


1?  CrOMENT/i. 

XXX.  The  Church  of  the  thirteenth  century.  278 

XXXI.  The  Churcli  of  the  fourteenth  centurv.  289 

XXXII.  The  Church  of  the  fifteenth  century.  203 

XXXIII.  The  seventeenth  general  council,  held  at  Florence  for 

the  extinction  of  the  Greek  schism,  «&c.  300 

XXXIV.  The  Church  of  the  sixteenth  century.  306 

XXXV.  The  rebuilding  of  St<  Peter's  Church  at  the  Vatican,  &c.  312 

XXXVI.  The  rise  of  Lutheranism  in  Germany,  of  Calvinism  in 
France,  of  Socinianisni  in  Tuscany,  Poland,  &c.  321 

XXXVII.  The  Ciiurch  of  the  seventeenth  century.  332 

XXXVIII.  The  Church  of  the  eiditeenth  centurv.  341 


PREFACE. 


— >H«#«4<«- 


j\_  KNOWLEDGE  of  what  concems  the  Church  of  Christ 
is  the  more  interesting  and  the  more  necessary,  as  the 
Church  is  the  sacred  organ  by  which  God  speaks  to  his 
people,  and  discovers  to  them  the  great  truths  of  eternity. 
This  is  the  plain,  easy,  comprehensive,  and  certain  rule, 
that  Jesus  Christ  has  appointed  for  teaching  mankind 
what  they  are  to  believe,  and  what  they  are  to  do,  in  or- 
der to  secure  their  salvation.  By  following  this  rule,  the 
faithful  are  preserved  in  the  unity  of  the  same  religious 
sentiments,  and  prevented  from  being  carried  about  by 
every  wind  of  doctrine,  as  the  Apostle  says,  Ephes.  c.  4. 
v.  14.  In  fact,  it  is  by  this  means  alone  that  we  know  for 
certain  that  the  Scripture  itself  is  the  genuine  word  of 
God,  and  that  Christians  of  the  weakest  capacity,  who 
cannot  read,  and  who  are  incapable  of  examining  or  in- 
terpreting the  Scriptures,  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
true  sense  and  meaning  of  them,  and  are  instructed  in 
many  points  of  the  Christian  religion,  which  the  Written 
Word  does  not  contain. 

Kence  it  is,  that  after  professing  in  the  Aposdes'  creed 
our  belief  in  the  ever  blessed  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  and 
the  other  sublime  mysteries  of  our  redemption,  the  very 
next  article  that  is  subjoined  to  them,  is  that  of  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church,  it  being  the  next  in  importance  to  these 
Divine  Truths,  and  the  sacred  canal  through  which  the 
Ijfcevelation  of  them  is  conveyed  to  us  with  every  degree 
of  certaintv. 

This  article  of  the  creed  is  a  most  convincing  proof. 

oth  of  the  continual  existence  of  the  church  upon  Earth, 

and  of  all  those  signal  prerogatives  with  which  Christ 

has  adorned  and  distinguished  her  ;  for  as  it  was  a  divine 

A2 


■b 


VI  PREFACE. 

revealed  truth,  when  the  creed  was  made  by  the  inspired 
Apostles,  that  Christ  had  then  an  holy  Catholic  Church 
upon  Earth,  so  it  is  no  less  a  divine  truth,  that  he  has  an 
holy  Catholic  Church  upon  Earth  at  present,  that  he  had 
such  a  Church  in  all  ages  ever  since  the  Creed  was  made, 
and  that  he  will  have  such  a  Church  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  because  the  Creed  and  every  article  of  it  must  be 
true  at  all  times.  It  would  be  blasphemous  to  suppose 
any  article  of  it  to  be  false,  as  every  article  of  it  stands 
Tipon  the  san)e  ground  with  all  the  other  sacred  truths  of 
faith,  that  is,  upon  the  Divine  Revelation,  and  conse- 
quently must  be  equally  believed  at  all  times. 

By  the  Church  is  meant,  a  congregation  or  society 
composed  of  pastors  teaching,  and  of  the  people  who  are 
taught.  Taken  in  its  most  ample  signification,  it  consists 
of  all  the  posterity  of  Adam,  who  belong  to  Christ  by 
faith,  and  thus  comprehends  the  people  of  God  through 
the  whole  period  of  the  existence  of  mankind.  Christ 
himself  is  the  supreme  head  of  this  great  mystical  body, 
as  St.  Paul  teaches  us,  Ephes.  c.  1.  v.  22.  It  is  he  who 
merited  grace  and  glory  for  all  the  saints  of  the  old  Testa- 
ment. There  is  no  Salvation  for  men  but  through  him. 
There  is  710  other  name  under  Heaven^  by  which  we  are  to 
be  saved f  Acts  1.  v.  12.  He  took  away  the  w^all  of  se- 
paration that  divided  the  Jews  and  Gentiles.  He  united 
ihem  and  made  them  one  people,  called  the  Christian 
people.  The  members  of  the  Church  being  in  different 
states  or  conditions,  are  distinguished  into  different  Class- 
es, w4iich  compose  the  three  parts  of  the  Church,  usually 
called  the  Church  Triumphant,  the  Church  Suffering,  and 
the  Church  Militant.  The  first  is  called  the  Church 
Triumphant^  because  the  saints  in  Heaven,  of  whom  it  is 
composed,  are  now  triumphing  in  the  possession  of  eter- 
nal glory,  after  having  fought  manfully  here  on  Earth  and 
conquered  all  the  enemies  of  their  souls.  The  souls  in 
Purgatory  are  called  the  Church  Suffering,  because  they 
are  in  a  state  of  suffering  and  plirgation,  until  they  are 
pure  enough  to  be  admitted  into  Heaven.  The  faithful 
on  Earth  are  called  the   Church  Militant,  because  they 


PREFACE.  vii 


are  still  in  the  field  of  battle,  engaged  in  a  spiritual  war- 
fare with  the  enemies  of  their  salvation. 

St.  John  in  the  Apocalypse,  describing  the  Church  tri- 
umphant, says,  that  "  he  saw  great  multitudes  of  saints 
"  and  martyrs,  and  of  holy  virgins  in  Heaven,  who  follow 
"  the  Lamb  wherever  he  goes, — redeemed  to  God  in 
"  his  blood,  out  of  every  tribe,  and  tongue  and  people, — 
"  clothed  with  white  robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands, — 
"  casting  their  crowns  before  the  throne  of  God, — falling 
"  down  upon  their  faces,  and  adoring  God, — serving  him 
"  day  and  night  in  his  temple, — saying  Holy,  Holy,  Holy, 
"  Lord  God  Almighty, — benediction,  and  glory,  and  wis- 
"  dom,  and  thanksgiving,  honour,  and  power,  and  strength 
"  to  our  God  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen." 

The  Prophet  Isaias,  c.  35.  fortelling  the  glories  of  the 
church  militant,  describes  her  as  a  way  of  holiness,  that 
leads  to  eternal  happiness,  and  forms  to  virtue  and  sanc- 
tity such  as  are  one  day  to  people  Heaven.  The  Pro- 
phet Osee,  c.  2.  v.  19.  calls  the  Church  the  Spouse  of 
Christ,  betrothed  to  God  in  righteousness  and  for  ever. 
St.  Paul,  Ephes.  5.  c.  27.  v.  calls  her  a  Glorious  Church 
without  spot  or  wrinkle,  and  1  Tim.  3.  15.  the  Pillar  and 
Ground  of  Truth,  She  is  also  styled  the  City  of  the 
Liviiig  God,  the  House  and  Temple  of  God,  the  Sister 
of  Heavenly  Jerusalem,  the  Mother  of  the  Saints,  embel- 
lished with  every  ornament  of  grace  and  virtue,  and  rich 
in  her  numerous  issue,  always  bringing  forth,  and  giving 

t)iritual  birth  to  the  children  of  God.  She  is  compared 
ythe  Tower  of  David,  built  with  bulwarks,  to  a  power- 
ful army  in  battle  array,  to  a  fountain  of  water,  springing 
up  into  eternal  life,  and  ivatering  every  place  by  her  co- 
"ious  streams.  Anodier  time  she  is  compared  to  the 
'<Creat  Luminary,  that  spreads  its  rays  and  diffuses  its  light 
hroiigh  the  whole  world;  another  time  to  a  Tree  that  ex- 
tends its  branches  over  the  earth  ;  another  time  to  a  city  set 
Kn  a  hill,  which  cannot  be  hid,  and  the  gates  ofivhich  shall 
ot  be  shut  day  or  night ;  another  time  to  a  huge  Moun- 
tain that  fills  the  whole  Earth  ;  another  time  to  a  Moun- 
tain upon  the  top  of  mountains,  exposed  to  the  view  of  all 


Vm  PREFACE* 

nations  flowing  to  it,  and  as  conspicuous  as  the  Sun  in  the 
Heavens,  ^c. 

The  Prophet  Daniel,  c.  2.  v.  4.  speaking  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  the  New  Testament,  compares  it  to 
a  kingdom,  and  foretels  that  his  spiritual  dominions  shall 
extend  over  the  universe,  and  that  his  reign  shall  be  with- 
out end.  His  kingdom  shall  never  be  destroyed,  nor  de- 
livered Up  to  another  people,  but  shall  stand  for  ever. 
Where,  it  is  evident,  that  by  the  kingdom  of  the  Messias, 
the  Prophet  did  not  mean  a  temporal  kingdom,  but  the 
spiritual  kingdom  of  the  Church,  which  Christ  has  esta- 
blished in  order  to  enlighten  and  sanctify  mankind.  His 
Kingdom  is  not  of  this  ivorld,  nor  does  it  consist  in  any  of 
those  sublunary  pomps  or  perishable  things,  which  render 
earthly  kingdoms  respectable  in  the  eyes  of  men.  His 
reign  is  a  reign  of  truth  and  justice.  The  only  riches, 
that  are  deemed  worth  thirsting  after  in  his  kingdom,  are 
the  riches  of  grace.  The  only  force  that  is  desirable, 
is  that  of  virtue  and  good  works.  Jesus  Christ  reigns 
here  over  the  minds  of  his  servants  by  faith,  and  over 
their  hearts  by  charity.  The  greatest  enemies  of  his 
spiritual  kingdom  are  errors  and  vices,  heresies,  schisms, 
and  scandals. 

Christ  himself  has  foretold  that  his  Church  on  Earth 
-should  have  such  enemies  to  encounter.  She  is  not  here 
below  in  the  place  of  her  repose,  but  in  a  place  of  trial, 
and  in  a  foreign  country.  She  must  of  course  necessa- 
rily expect  to  meet  with  severe  trials  and  persecutions, 
and  must  be  prepared  to  combat  them  with  the  spiritual 
weapons  of  patience,  prayers,  and  instructions,  until  the 
happy  period  of  her  migration  into  heavenly  Jerusalem, 
her  native  country,  where  she  is  to  be  for  ever  associated 
to  the  Church  triumphant,  and  to  be  crowned  with  im- 
mortal glory. 

If  we  trace  the  history  of  her  birth,  her  growth,  her  es- 
tablishment, and  continuance  ■  to  this  day,  we  shall  find 
that,  according  to  the  prediction  of  her  Divine  Founder, 
she  has  been  attacked  in  every  age  since  her  infancy, 
either  by  the  persecutions  of  the  ruling  powers  of  the 


PREFACE.  IX 

world,  or  by  heresies,  schisms,  and  scandals,  raised  by 
some  of  her  own  refractory  members,  who  swerved  from 
her  sound  doctrine,  and  trampled  upon  her  sacred  laws. 
She  never  has  been,  and  never  will  be,  without  some  per- 
secution, open  or  hidden,  general  or  particular,  as  St. 
Augustine  observes  in  his  exposition  of  psalms  39  and 
54  ;  and  all  these  persecutions  are  to  terminate  with  the 
general  persecution  of  Antichrist  at  the  end  of  the  world. 
The  Heathen  emperors  have  used  their  utmost  endea- 
vours to  destroy  her  by  fire  and  sword.  False  brethren 
and  rebellious  children  have  disturbed  her  peace  by 
■  broaching  errors,  and  by  separating  themselves  from  her 
'  unity.  But  she  has  triumphed  over  all  their  efforts,  and 
surmounted  all  oppositions,  because  she  was  divinely  and 
eonstantly  protected  by  the  all-powerful  hand  of  her 
Heavenly  Author,  who  had  promised  to  be  with  her  all 
days  unto  the  consummation  of  ages.  She  has  seen 
many  'different  sects  rise  from  time  to  time,  and  she  has 
also  seen  them  fall  and  dwindle  away  to  nothing,  whilst 
she  constantly  gained  ground  in  one  Country,  when  she 
happened  to  lose  it  in  another.  She  has  always  preserv- 
ed the  deposit  of  faith  pure  and  uncorrupted,  and  never 
adopted  as  any  part  of  her  doctrine,  the  erroneous  popu- 
lar opinions,  that  prejudice  might  have  authorized  in  any 
age,  even  in  the  first  ages  of  Christianity.  She  has  con- 
quered the  cruelty  of  tyrants  by  her  patience,  and  termi- 
nated the  contests  and  disputes  that  were  raised  on  similar 
occasions,  by  the  decrees  and  decisions  of  her  councils. 
She  has  already  had  a  visible  being  in  the  world,  upwards 
of  seventeen  centuries,  notwithstanding  the  various  revo- 

(utions  of  nature,  and  the  many  violent  attempts  that  have 
jeen  made  from  time  to  time,  to  alter  and  adulterate 
[er  doctrine  of  faith,  morals,  and  discipline,  God 
iaving  raised  in  every  age  a  multitude  of  learned  doc- 
tors, zealous  pastors,  and  illustrious  saints,  to  stem  the 
rrent  of  iniquity,  to  condemn  the  reigning  vices  of  the 
times,  and  to  confound  and  refute  every  peinicious  error 
as  soon  as  it  made  its  first  appearance  in  the  world,  as  will 
he  shown  in  the  sequel. 


X  PREFACE. 

f 

Millions  of  Christians  in  every  preceding  generation 
have  found  the  Church  of  Christ  subsisting  in  their  days, 
and  believing  precisely  the  self-same  doctrine  which  we 
now  profess  ;  and  this  must  necessarily  be  the  case  in  all 
proceeding  ages,  and  future  generations,  till  time  shall  be 
no  more,  because  a  perpetual  duration  has  been  promised 
to  the  Church,  and  because  he  who  made  this  promise  is 
immutable,  all-powerful,  and  faithful  to  his  word.  Hea- 
ven and  Earth  may  pass  away,  but  his  words  will  never 
pass  away.  Hence  I  may  justly  conclude  with  the  great 
Augustine :  Prcedicta  lege,  impleta  cerne,  implenda  col- 
lige.  Read  what  has  been  heretofore  foretold  by  Jesus 
Christ ;  behold  what  has  been  already  accomplished  in 
the  foregoing  ages  ;  and  conclude  that  the  remainder 
of  his  predictions  shall  be  infallibly  accomplished  here- 
after. 

Edification  being  the  primary  view  of  this  undertaking, 
the  compiler's  first  care  has  been  a  most  scrupulous  at- 
tachment to  truth,  the  soul  of  all  history,  especially  of  sa- 
cred history,  which  tends  to  the  advancement  of  piety 
and  religion.  No  good  end  can,  on  any  account,  ever 
yender  the  least  lie  lawful,  or  authorize  the  use  of,  what 
some  most  improperly  call,  pious  frauds.  On  the  con- 
trary, to  tell  any  lie  whatsoever  in  the  least  point  relating 
to  religion  is,  so  far  from  being  justifiable,  or  excusable, 
that  the  pretence  of  religion  would  exceedingly  aggra- 
vate it,  and  make  it  a  crime  of  the  most  heinous  nature* 
Good  men  may  sometimes  be  too  credulous  in  things  that 
appear  harmless,  and  die  more  adverse  they  are  from 
fraud  themselves,  the  more  unwilling  they  are  to  suspect 
imposture  in  others.  But  no  good  man  can  countenance 
and  abet  a  known  fraud  for  any  purpose  whatsoever.  All 
wilful  lying  is  essentially  a  sin,  as  all  Catholic  divines 
teach,  with  St.  Augustine  against  the  Priscillianists.  It  is 
hateful  to  the  God  of  truth  and  an  affront  and  injury  of- 
fered to  our  neighbour.  It  is  contrary  to  the  very  end  and 
use  of  speech,  dissolves  the  sacred  bond  of  society,  and 
destroys  mutual  confidence  and  commerce  among  men. 
Hence  the  canons  of  the  Church  have  always  strictly  for  | 


PREFACE.  361 

bidden  false  legends,  and  all  kinds  of  such  forgeries  and 
impostures  as  lies,  in  matters  of  great  moment,  and  the 
authors  when  detected,  have  been  always  condemned  and 
punished  with  the  utmost  severity.  TertuUian  and  St. 
Jerom  inform  us,  that  even  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  a 
certain  priest  at  Ephesus  having  forged  false  acts  of  St. 
Paul's  voyages  and  sufferings,  out  of  veneration  for  that 
Apostle,  was  deposed  for  this  crime  from  the  priesthood. 
All  the  facts  related  in  the  following  compendious  ab- 
stract, have  been  faithfully  taken  from  the  most  unques- 
tionable authors,  and  are  founded  upon  original  monu- 
ments and  authentic  records.  A  free  use  has  been  made 
of  the  unwearied  labours  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alban  Butler, 
the  pious  author  of  the  Lives  of  the  Fathers,  &;c.  The 
limits  of  this  work  would  not  allow  long  narratives  ;  yet 
the  heart,  which  seeks  and  loves  God,  will  find  it  agree- 
ably diversified  by  an  intermixture  of  interesting  events 
and  a  variety  of  salutary  documents,  that  may  afford  the 
attentive  reader  ample  matter  for  serious  reflection.  A 
short  account  is  given  of  all  the  chief  pastors  and  of  the 
writings  of  the  principal  fathers,  of  all  the  general  coun- 
cils, of  the  conversion  of  nations,  &.c.  and  of  the  charac- 
teristical  virtues  of  several  illustrious  saints,  who  are  pro- 
•  posed  as  models  for  our  imitation.  The  example  of 
those  great  servants  of  God  points  out  to  us  the  true  path 
to  eternal  happiness,  and  sweetly  invites  us  to  walk  in  their 
steps.  It  tacitly  reproaches  us  with  our  own  sloth  and 
indolence,  and  silences  all  our  pretences  and  objections. 
It  removes  the  difficulties  which  self-love  is  so  apt  to  raise, 
and  forces  us  to  cry  out  with  St.  Augustine  :  Cannot  you 
do,  what  such  and  such  have  done  9  For  though  we  may 
not  be  able  to  practise  the  extraordinary  rigours  and  aus- 
terities of  some  saints,  who  were  conducted  by  an  un- 
common impulse  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  yet  we  can  learn 
from  them  to  practise  charity,  humility,  patience,  resigna- 
tion, sobriety,  penance  and  other  virtues,  in  a  manner 
suiting  our  circumstances  and  respective  states.  The 
difficulties,  which  many  apprehend  in  embracing  a  peni- 
tential  course  of  life,  according  to  their  circumstances^ 


XU  PREFACE. 


are  often  only  imaginary,  and  arise  from  groundless  fe?irs, 
which  sloth  and  sensuality  create.  A  coward  starts  at 
shadows,  and  every  thing  wears  a  frightful  face  to  those 
who  have  not  courage  to  set  their  hands  to  work. 


THE 


HISTORY 


OF    THE 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The   wonderful  wisdom  and  s;oodncss   displayed  by  Jesus 
Chirist  in  the  formation  of  his  Church. 

M_  HE  Royal  Prophet,  after  praising  God  in  the  most 
profound   sentiments   of  adoration   and  thanksgiving  for 
the  wonderful  works  of  his  Providence   in  the   creation 
and  administration  of  the  universe,  raises  his  eyes  above 
this  material  world,  and   the  whole  order  of  nature,  to 
contemplate  the  new  spiritual  creation,  and  in  a  transport 
of  admiration   and   thanksgiving,    cries   out,  in   his   103 
H^salm,  30,  v.   Thou  shall   send  forth  thy  spirit^  and  they 
shall  be  created  ;  and  ihou  shall  renew  the  face  of  the  earth. 
|^[)f  this  new  spiritual  creation  the   first  forming  of  the 
^vorld  out  of  nothing  was  but  an  emblem.      This  predic- 
tion, and  its  accomplishment,  this  great  and  astonishing 
mystery  ;  this  wonderful  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  this 
new  creation  regards  the  establishment  of  the  spiritual 
kingdom  and  Church  of  Christ  dn  earth,  and  its  propa- 
gation through  all  the  nations  of  the   known  world,  not- 
withstanding all  the  opposition  that  earth  and  hell  could 
contrive  against  it.     The  meridian  sun  could  not  appear 
clearer  and  brighter  than  the  Divine  Power   and  Wis- 
dom  did  on  this  occasion  :  It  shone  in  its  full  lustre,  and 
confounded  all  the  enemies  of  the  Christian  Religion,  by 
such  illustrious  marks  of  supernatural  interposition,  and 
such  incontestible  proofs,  as  no  pretences  could  invali- 
date. 

B 


14  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Christ  our  Lord  began  to  form  his  Church  when  he 
assembled  his  disciples,  and  instructed  them  with  his 
own  mouth.  Like  a  wise  architect,  he  built  his  Church 
upon  a  firm  rock,  upon  a  solid  and  immoveable  founda- 
tion that  it  should  stand  in  spite  of  all  storms,  opposi- 
tions, or  any  efforts  whatever  to  make  it  fall.  His  infi- 
nite wisdom  did  not  use  less  prudence  in  the  constitution 
of  his  spiritual  kingdom,  than  human  legislators  do  in 
well-regulated  states  and  sociefles,  wherein  wise  means 
are  established  to  preserve  ceconomy,  peace,  and  tran- 
quillity amongst  the  subjects.  Magistrates  are  appointed, 
io  prevent  confusion  and  disorder.  Judges  are  com- 
missioned to  give  decrees,  to  interpret  and  explain  the 
civil  laws  with  a  sovereign  authority,  and  to  terminate 
the  differences  that  arise  between  man  and  man,  which 
otherwise  might  last  till  doomsday,  if  every  man  was 
left  at  liberty  to  construe  and  expound  the  laws  after  his 
own  fancy,  or  allowed  to  be  judge  in  his  own  cause,  and 
to  prefer  his  own  private  interpretation  to  that  of  the 
unanimous  decision  of  the  whole  body  of  judges  and 
lawyers.  Christ  came,  as  he  says  himself,  St.  John,  c. 
10,  v.  16,  to  gather  all  nations  together,  to  bring  back 
all  who  had  been  dispersed^  that  there  might  be  but  one 
sheepfold  and  one  shepherd,  one  Church  and  one  Faith, 
as  there  is  but  one  Lord  and  one  Baptism.  It  was  his 
constant  prayer  whilst  on  earth,  that  all  his  disciples 
should  be  one,  as  he  and  his  heavenly  Father  were  one. 
— St.  John,  c.  17.  V.  21.  He  had  expressed  in  the  most 
forcible  terms.  Matt.  c.  12.  v.  25,  the  desolation  threaten- 
ing a  kingdom  divided  in  itself.  It  cannot  therefore  be 
supposed  that  he  would  expose  his  own  kingdom  to  such 
a  danger,  or  act  in  a  manner  that  would  not  become  any 
king  or  potentate  on  earth,  by  leaving  his  people  unpro- 
yided'of  what  is  necessary  to  preserve  subordination  in 
every  well  regulated  society.  He  was  sensible  that  no 
human  means  could  contribute  more  etfectually  to  ce- 
ment unity  and  faith,  subordination  in  goverimient,  peace 
and  charity  among  Christians,  and  to  preserve  them  from 
splitting  and  dividing  into  diffeiient  sheepfolds  or  com- 
munions, than  if  he  appointed  a.  centre  of  unity  or  an 
universal  pastor  over  his  Church,  to  regulate  and  govern 
it,  and  to  influence  all  the  particular  Churches  in  the 
world,  as  their  visible  head,  and  supreme  judge  in  mat- 
ters appertaining  to  faith  and  morals. 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  la 

In  the  old  law,  the  Jews  had  recourse  to  the  High 
Priest  of  the  Synagogue  in  all  matters  of  difficulty  and 
importance,  and  were  obliged  to  submit  to  his  judgment, 
though  they  had  both  scriptures  and  prophets. — Deut.  17. 
In  the  new  law  our  divine  Legislator  did  not  alter  this 
method  of  instructing  mankind.  He  chose  one  among  the. 
twelve  apostles,  says  St.  Jerome,  as  the  visible  head  of  his 
Church,  that  an  head  being  appointed,  the  cause  of  schism 
might  be  removed.  He  commanded  Peter  to  feed  his  sheep, 
ami  to  feed  his  lambs  ;  that  is,  his  whole  (lock  without 
exception. — St,  John  21.  He  prayed  for  him  that  his 
faith  should  not  fail,  and  left  him  as  chief  pastor  of  his 
fold,  to  confirm  his  brethren. — St.  Luke  22,  31.  He  gave 
him  in  particular  the  keys  of  the  Jdngdom  of  Heaven,  St, 
Matt.  16,  19.  as  the  ensign  qf  supreme  power  and  au- 
thority, which  he  communicated  to  him  as  his  vicegerent 
on  earth.  In  line,  he  gave  him  the  name  o£  Peter,  which 
signiiies  a  rock,  and  declared  that  upon  him,  as  a  rock,  he 
would  build,  his  Church,  and  that  the  gates  of  Hell  shoulijL 
not  prevail  against  her. — St.  Matt.  16,  18.  Hence  the 
chief  place  in  the  sacred  college  of  the  Apostles  was 
from  the  beginning  assigned  to  Peter.  In  the  enumera- 
tion of  the  twelve,  all  the  Evangelists  constantly  place 
him  in  the  front,  and  unanimously  agree  in  naming  him 
before  all  the  rest,  as  the  first.  Our  Lord  usually  directs 
his  discourse  to  him,  and  he  replies  as  the  mouth  of  the 

(est,  which  made  the  primitive  writers  of  Christianity 
lonstantly  call  Peter  the  Chief,  the  Head,  the  President, 
he  Prolocutor,  and  Foreman  of  the  Apostles,  with  several 
ither  titles  of  distinction  and  prerogative. 
Christ  also  appointed  different  orders  of  Pastors,  Apos- 
^Jles,  Evangelists,  and  teachers,  to  carry  on  tlie  work  of  the. 
^hiimstry  in  succession  for  the  edification  and  preservation  of 
l^his  mystical  body,  and  for  conducting  souls  in  the  road 
to  perfection. — Ephes.  4,   12.      He  authorized  them  to 
preach'  the  gospel,  St.  Luke  4,  18,  and  gave  them  all  the 
spiritual  power  of  the   priesthood,  to  administer  the  sa- 
craments, St.  John  20,  21.  and  to  ride  the  Church  which 
he  purchased  with  his  own  blood. — Acts  20,  28.     He  com- 
missioned and  sent  them  into  the  whole  world — St.  Mark 
16,  15,  to  teach  all  nations  the  same  heavenly  doctrine 
he  had  taught  them,  to  administer  to  them  all  the  same 
baptism,  and  to  establish  one  and  the  same  plan  of  re- 


M>  HISTORY    OF    THE 

iigioiis  worship. — St.  Matt.  28,  19.  He  moreover  promi- 
sed to  send  down  the  Holy  Ghost  to  teach  them  all  truth. — 
St.  John  16,  12,  and  assured  them  that  he  himself  would 
be  with  them  all  days,  even  to  th-e  consummation  of  the  world, 
to  assist  them  by  the  continual  protection  of  his  all- 
ruling  Providence,  St.  Matt.  28,  20,  and  consequently  that 
he  would  be  with  their  lawful  successors  in  office,  who 
are  to  continue  to  the  end  of  the  world,  and  to  complete 
the  work  which  they  began  ;  for  as  the  Apostles  neither 
did,  nor  could  teach  all  nations  in  their  own  person,  nor 
were  to  continue  long  on  earth,  it  is  manifest  that  the 
aforesaid  commission  and  promises  of  Christ  were  not 
limited  or  confined  to  their  persons,  but  were  given  and 
designed  to  extend  to  their  successors  in  office.  Here 
t^en  we  have  just  cause  to  admire  the  goodness  of  our 
Lord,  who  requiring  from  us  a  belief  of  mysteries,  which 
are  above  the  comprehension  of  all  human  understand- 
ing, and  founded  in  divine  revelation,  did  not  leave  us 
trusting  to  the  uncertainty  of  our  own  private  judgment, 
or  exposed  to  a  variety  of  errors,  and  to  an  endless 
source  of  dissentions  and  divisions,  but  vouchsafed  to 
provide  us  with  a  sure  and  unerring  guide,  which  is  under 
the  special  protection  of  Heaven,  and  the  continual  gui- 
dance of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Instead  of  a  weak  and  blind 
reason,  which  we  are  to  sacrifice  in  obedience  to  him, 
according  to  St.  Paul,  2  Cor.  70.  he  was  pleased  to  es- 
tablish an  authority  that  cannot  mislead  us,  and  that  every 
individual  is  bound  to  yield  a  firm  assent  to  in  religious 
matters.  It  was  truly  becoming  the  wisdom,  and  worthy 
of  the  goodness  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  preserve  us  thus  from 
all  illusions,  differences,  oi*  disunions,  with  regard  to  our 
faith,  and  to  secure  us  against  all  doubts,  fluctuations, 
and  distrustful  suggestions  of  an  incredulous  temper,  to 
which  they  must  be  liable  who  shake  off  the  yoke  of  au- 
thority to  become  their  own  guide  in  the  affair  of  reli- 
gion, as  they  can  have  no  certainty  that  they  are  not 
misled  by  their  own  private  opinion,  and  mistaken  in 
their  judgment,  this  being  a  thing  that  daily  happens  to 
thousands  and  thousands  in  cases  less  difficult  and  less 
abstruse  than  matters  of  faith.  Every  man  of  candour, 
who  is  open  to  conviction,  must  acknowledge  that  this 
method  of  instructing  mankind  by  the  authority  of  the 
Church,  is  the  only  sure  channel  through  which  the  sense 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  17 

of  revelation  is  conveyed  to  us  with  the  most  perfect 

|^:ertainty,  and  the  hest  calculated  rule  for  conducting  us 
^n  the  way  of  salvation,  and  for  leading  us  to  virtue  and 
happiness  in  a  plain,  easy  manner,  fitted  to  all  capacities, 
nd  adapted  to  the  infirmities  of  human  nature.     By  this 
iieans  tfie  ignorant,  the  dull  of  apprehension,  and  those- 
ho,  through  their  weakness  of  understanding,  and  their 
everal  avocations,  have  not  leisure,  or  are   incapable  of 
xamining  and  interpreting  the  Scriptures,  or  of  judging 
"or  themselves,  are  instructed  in  the  revealed  truths,  and 
have  better  eyes  to  see  for  them  than  their  own.     By 

Kiis  means  also  the  learned,  as  well  as  the  ignorant,  are 
aarded  against  the  illusions  of  pride  and  self-love,  and 
furnished  with  the  same  motives  of  belief,  and  the  same 
■foundation  for  their  faith.     Instead  of  building  on  a  sandy 
foundation,  they  build  upon  a  rock,  and  have  the  pillar 
^ind  ground  of  truth  to   support    them,   1  Tim.  3,  15  ;  for 
which  reason  they  are  not  to  be  shaken  by  all  the  specious 
arguments  that  human  wit  and   learning  are  able  to  sug- 
gest.    In  hearing  the  pastors  of  the  Church,  they  hear 
^^■esus  Christ   himself,   who  expressly  «..says,  St.  Luke  10, 
^^■6,  He  that  hears  you^  hears  me  ;  he  that  despises  yoUy  des- 
^^ises  me  ;  and  he   that  despises  me,  despises  my  heavenly 
Father,  who  setit  me.     In  obeying  the  ordinances  of  the 
Church  in  matters  concerning  religion,  they  cannot  go 
astray,  since  they  thereby  obey  only  the  orders  of  Christ 
himself,  who  says,  St.  Matt.  c.  18.  v.  17.     He  that  will  not 
hear  the  Church,  let  him  be  to  thee  as  the  heathen  ami  the 
publican.     Let  us  stop  here  in  silent  raptures  of  astonish- 
ment, and  briefly  contemplate   the  spiritual   beauty,  in- 
comparable advantages,   and    high   prerogatives   of  the 
Church  of  Christ  :  She  can  never  cease  to  be  the  true 
Church  of  Christ,  nor  fail  in  any  of  those  sacred  prero- 
gatives with  which  Christ  at  first  adorned  her  ;'  she  is  al- 
ways holy,  always  catholic,  always  preserves  the  precious 
deposit  of  faith  pure  and  unvaried.     Christ  always  ani* 
mates  her  by  his  holy  spirit  ;  he  always  presides  over  her 
as  her  supreme  invisible  head,  and  as  the  vine  communis 
cates   nourishment  to  the  branches,  St.  John  c.  15.  so   he 
communicates  to  the  members  of  his   mystical  body,  the 
Church,  the  special  influx  of  his  gifts  and  graces,  by  the 
ministry  he  has  estabhshed,  and  by  the  holy  sacraments 
he  has  instituted  for  supplying  all  our  spiritual  necessities^ 
B2 


18  HISTORY   OF    THE 

and  for  healing  all  the  disorders  of  our  souls,  that  he  might 
thus  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity^  ami  might  cleanse  to  him' 
self  a  people  acceptable y  a  pursuer  of  good  works — Tit.  2. 
14.  or,  as  St.  Peter  speaks,  1.  2.  9.  a  chosen  generation y  a 
holy  nation^  a  purchased  people.  St.  Paul  assures  us,  that 
he  died  for  this  very  purpose,  to  purify  his  Church,  and 
make  her  holy.  Christ  loved  the  Church,  says  he,  Ephes. 
6.  25.  and  delivered  himself  up  for  it,  that  he  might  sanctify 
it,  cleansing  it  by  the  laver  of  water,  in  the  word  of  life; 
that  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a  glorious  Church,  not 
having  spot  or  wnnkle,  nor  any  such  thing,  bid  that  it  sJiould 
he  holy  and  without  blemish. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Apostles  begin  the  great  work  of  the  conversion  of 
the  world,  and  establish  a  Church  in  the  city  of  Jeru- 
salem. 

THE  nativity  of  the  Christian  Church  may  be  said 
to  take  its  date  from  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  or  Whitsunday,  for  it  was  then  that 
Jesus  Christ  infused,  as  it  were,  a  soul  into  his  mystical 
body,  and  endowed  it  with  a  vigorous  principle  of  life 
and  action.  From  this  period  his  apostles  being  com- 
pletely qualified  by  the  miraculous  effusion  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  began  to  exercise  all  their  respective  functions, 
and  to  exert  their  powers  in  governing  and  propagating 
his  spiritual .  kingdom.  They  immediately  proceeded  to 
execute  the  commission  given  them  by  their  Divine  Mas- 
ter, when  he  ordered  them  to  go  and  teach  all  nations, 
but  to  begin  with  Jerusalem  and  Judea.  Peter,  the 
Prince  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  Visible  Head  of  the 
Church,  began  the  great  work  with  courage  and  intrepi- 
dity. Inspired  and  animated  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  he 
raised  his  voice,  and  preached  boldy  the  divinity  and 
resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  before  those  very  Jews,  those 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  those  Princes  of  the  Nation, 
who  had  put  him  to  an  ignominious  death.  He  set  be- 
fore their  eyes  the  enormity  of  their  crime,  and  told 
them  with  a  confidence,  which  no  fear  of  torments  or 
death  could  shake  :  Ye  have  slain  the  Author  of  Ufe, 
iahom  God  has  raised  from  the  dead,  of  which  tee  are  wit- 


CIWJRCH    OF    CHRIST,  19 

nesscs.  Shortly  before,  the  Pillar  of  the  Church  trembled 
at  the  voice  of  Caiphas's  servant-maid,  says  St.  Augus- 
tine, and  shamefully  denied  his  Lord  and  Master  :  but, 
O  wonderful  change  !  after  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  he  fears  no  danger,  dreads  no  torments,  and  va- 
lues not  the  menaces  of  the  whole  Sanhedrim  of  the  Jews. 
He  openly  reproaches  them  with  the  murder  of  their 
Lord  and  Messiah.  He  exhorts  them  to  repent,  and  to 
become  adorers  of  Jesus  ;  and  by  his  first  sermon  he  con- 
verts three  thousand  souls  to  the  Christian  Religion.  His 
second  discourse  in  the  Temple  was  followed  by  the  con- 
version of  five  thousand  more,  wh«,  being  struck  with 
wonder  and  amazement,  embraced  the  faith,  on  seeing 
him  work  an  illustrious  miracle  in  favour  of  a  lame  beg- 
gar, Avho  lay  at  the  gate  of  the  Temple  called  the  beau- 
tiful, unable  to  move  without  help  ;  for  Peter  and  John 
going  into  the  Temple  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
to  perform  their  devotions,  this  poor  man,  who  had  been 
^  cripple  from  his  mother's  womb,  fixed  his  eyes  upon 
^le  two  Apostles,  and  craved  an  alms,  whereupon  Peter 

(Replied,  that  he  was  not  possessed  either  of  gold  or  silver, 
jut  that  he  would  give  him  what  he  had,  and  forthwith 
jommanded  him,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  rise  and 
talk,  taking  hold  of  his  right  hand  at  the  same  time,  and 
ifting  him  up.     The  poor  man  at  that  instant  leaped 
upon  his  feet,  stood  firm  upon  his  legs,  and  walked  joy- 
fully with  the  Apostles  into  the  Temple,  giving  thanks  to 
God   for   the    favour   he  had  received  by  their  means. 
«  Peter  seeing  the  people  amazed  at  the  miracle  instanta- 
IBeously  wrought  before  their  eyes,  seized  on  the  favoura- 
l^e  occasion  to  preach  the  mystery  of  the  Cross  to  them, 
and  to  notify  that  Jesus  is  the  promised  Messiah  and  Sa- 
viour of  Mankind,  and  that  there  is  no  other  name  under 
Heaven  given  to  men,   whei^eby  ive   must  be  saved. — ^Acts 
4.  12. 

I  The  Jewish  Priests,  Sadducees  and  Officers  of  the 
Temple,  were  so  exasperated  at  the  subject  of  his  dis- 
ourse,  that  they  took  Peter  and  John  into  custody,  and 
iresented  them  before  the  Great  Council  of  the  Nation, 
rhich,  after  some  deliberation,  commanded  the  Apostles 
0  be  silent  for  the  future,  and  to  be  careful  not  to  speak 
nor  teach  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  But  they  were  not  to 
be  terrified  or  intimidated  by  such  menaces  :  We  leave 


20  HISTORY    OF    THE 

you  to  judge,  said  they  in  reply,  wlietlier  it  be  right  to 
hear  you,  rather  than  God  ;  we  cannot  but  speak  the 
things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard.  Death,  in  its 
most  terrifying  shape,  was  not  able  to  deter  them  from 
discharging  the  sacred  functions  of  their  ministry.  Far 
from  being  silent,  they  felt  the  invigorating  effects  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  ;  they  were  filled  with  new  courage,  and 
preached  the  word  of  God  with  confideuce  to  the  people, 
so  that  the  multitude  of  believers  in  Jerusalem  became 
every  day  more  and  more  numerous.  . 

Of  all  the  Jewish  sectaries  who  opposed  their  preach- 
ing, the  Sadducees  were  the  most  violent  :  Stung  with 
envy  to  see  the  people  so  eager  in  embracing  the  new 
doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  they  caused  the  Apostles  to  be  ap- 
prehended and  cast  into  the  common  prison  ;  but  an 
Angel  of  the  Lord  having  opened  the  doors  and  led  them 
out,  they  went  next  day  to  preach  again  to  the  people  in 
the  temple. — An  officer  being  immediately  dispatch'ed  to 
summon  them  before  the  Council,  tlie  Apostles  ready  to 
obey  every  order  of  the  magistrates,  that  was  consistent 
with  their  duty  to  God,  made  their  appearance.  The 
High  Priest  reproached  them  with  disobedience  to  the 
former  orders,  which  had  been  given  them,  not  to  men- 
tion the  name  of  Jasus  among  the  people,  nor  to  disturb 
the  public  peace  with  any  new  doctrines.  Peter  answer- 
ed in  the  same  words  as  before,  and  observed,  that  when 
God  commands  one  thing  and  m.an  another,  it  nevdr  can 
be  justifiable  to  obey  men  preferably  to  God.  The 
answer  threw  the  Council  into  a  violent  ferment  ; 
they  swelled  with  rage,  they  stormed,  and  threatened 
the  Apostles  with  immediate  death  ;  when  Gamaliel, 
a  wise  and  prudent  Pharisee,  rose  up  to  make  them 
hear  reason,  and  to  calm  their  passions.  With  a  soft 
and  soothing  eloquence  he  dissuaded  them  from  acts 
of  violence,  and  convinced  them  that  they  had  no  other 
measure  to  take  than  that  of  moderation  ;  that  if  this 
new  doctrine  was  the  invention  of  men,  it  would  of 
itself  soon  fall  to  nothing ;  but  if  it  sprung  from  God, 
that  it  would  be  rashness  in  them  to  oppose  it. — 
They  agreed  to  follow  his  advice,  and  to  dismiss  the 
Apostles,  after  having  scourged,  and  strictly  charged 
thein  never  to  speak  again  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  The 
Apostles  being  thus  acquitted,  departed  from  the  Coun- 
cil, rejoicing  because  they  had  been  accounted  worthy 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  21 

to  siifFer  rqiroach  for  the  name  of  Jesus.  Their  zeal 
was  not  damped  by  suffering.  They  preached  daily  in 
the  temj^e  ;  and  from  house  to  house  ceased  not  to  teach 
the  faith  and  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ.  With  tongues  of 
fire,  and  voices  of  thunder,  they  proclaimed  the  myste- 
ries of  the  Divine  Mercy  and  Goodness  to  the  people  of 
diflerent  nations,  assembled  then  in  Jerusalem.  They 
displayed  to  them,  in  their  native  languages,  the  beauty 
and  recompense  of  virtue,  the  riches  of  eternity,  the 
baseness  and  folly  of  sin,  the  emptiness  and  vanity  of 
the  imaginary  greatness  and  pleasures  of  the  world,  with 
such  divine  force  as  to  drive  the  powers  of  Hell  before 
them  wherever  they  went  ;  to  strike  the  Oracles  dumb, 
which  the  Devil  to  delude  mankind,  pretended  to  deliver 
by  the  mo.uth  of  the  Pagan  idols ,;  and  to  beat  down  the 

(spirit  of  pride,  covetousness,   and   sensual    pleasure,  of 
irhich  they  found  the  world  every  where  full. — They  de- 
livered the  great  truths  of  salvation  with  undaunted  cour- 
age,   and  quoted  the  Divine  Oracles  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
l^iare  with  as  much  facility,  as  if  they  had  made  them  the 
'Constant  study  of  thoir  \v1iole  life.     They  were  inflamed 
with  so  ardent  a  desire  that  all  men   should  know  and 
love  God's  infinite  goodness,  that  if  they  had  a  thousand 
lives  they  would  have  sacrificed  them  all  with  pleasure 
for  the  glory  of  God  and  their  neighbours'*   salvation. 
n   As  they  were   constantly  employed   in  preaching  the 
"  word  of  God  and  gaining  over  new  converts  to  Christi- 
anity, they  ordained  seven  deacons  by  the  imposition  of 
their  hands,  that  they  might  not  only  take  upon  them  the 
management  of  the  temporalities  of  the  faithful,  but  that 
Ifciey  might  also  co-operate  in  tbe  sacred  functions  of  the 
Bainistry.     The  most  eminent  of  these  deacons  was  Ste- 
phen, who  to  a  natural   greatness   of  soul   united  an  ar- 
dent zeal  for  the  cause  of  God.     Full  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
'  e  exerted  the  force   of  his  divine  eloquence  in  instruct- 
g  the  people  in  the  knowledge  of  salvation.     His  ene- 
ies,  UTiabie  to  resist  the  wisdom  and  the  spirit  that  spoke 
y  his  tongue,  had  recourse  to  violence,   and  rushing  fu- 
iously  upon  him,  they  hurried  him  out  of  Jerusalem  to  a 
lace  where   they  stoned  hiy^i  to  death  ;  a  young   man 
ailed  Saul,  keeping  their  garments,  whilst  the   execu- 
tioners were  hurling  the  stones  at  him.     Stephen,  in  the 
mean  time  falling  upon  his  knees,  called  most  earnestly 


22  HISTORY    OF    THE 

upon  Jesus  not  to  lay  the  sin  to  their  cliarge,  and  when/ 
he  had  ended  his  prayer,  and  offered  np  his  blood  to  God 
for  those  who  spilt  it,  he  slept  happily  in  the  Lord,  and 
thus  became  the  first  martyr  of  the  new  law,  who  sufTer- 
ed  death  for  the  testimony  of  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ, 
After  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Stephen,  a  grievous  persecu- 
tion commenced  against  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  and  a 
general  consternation  prevailed  amongst  the  ministers  of 
God's    word.     All,  except  the  Apostles,    fled  from    the 
storm,  and  dispersed  themselves  through  the  country  of 
Judea  and  Samaria.     Their  dispersiotv  contributed  to  the 
propagation  of  the  Gospel,   for   they  preached  the  word 
of  God  wherever  they  went,  and  received  a  great  num- 
ber of  schismatics  and  other  converts  into  the  pale  of  the 
Church.      It  was  on  this   occasion  that  the  .  Samaritans 
were   converted  and  baptised  by  St.  Philip,  one   of  the 
tfeacons,  who  having  preached  the  Gospel  with  amazing 
success  through  all  the  neighbouring  cities,  was   admo- 
nished by  an  angel  to  go  to  the  great  road,  between  Je- 
rusalem and  Gaza,  where  he  went,  instructed,  converted 
and  baptised  an  Ethiopean  Eunuch,  one  of  the  princi- 
pal oflScers  in  the  Court  of  Queen  Candace,  and  her  high 
treasurer.     St.  Peter,  in  the  interim,  wrought  great  won- 
ders and  many  conversions  among  the  Jews.     He  made 
his  apostolical  excursions  through  the  country,  and  visi- 
ted and  confirmed  his  flock  by  word  and  example.  Being 
informed  that  the   Samaritans  had  been  converted  and 
baptized,  and  judging   it  necessary  to   confirm   them  a- 
gainst  the  terrors  of  persecution,  he  went  with  St.  John 
to  Samaria  for  this   purpose.     And  no   sooner  did  these 
two  Apostles  lay  their  hands  upon  the  new  converts  and 
pray  for  them,  that  they  might  receive  the  Holy  Ghost, 
than  they  accordingly  received  the  Holy  Ghost.     It  was 
here  that  Simon,  a  noted  magician,  observing  the  visible 
effects  that  ensued  from  the  mysterious  imposition  of  the 
Apostles'  hands,  offered   them    money,    if   they   would 
grant  him    the   power   of  performing  such  wonders  and 
conferring  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  sam6  manner.     St.  Pe- 
ter, to  show  what  a  heinous  crime  they  are  guilty  of  who 
presume  to  barter  spiritual  things  for  temporal,  immedi-j" 
ately  rephed  :  "Keep   thy  money  to  thyself,  and  let  it  I 
*'  perish  with  thee,  since  thou  hast  wickedly  thought  that  j 
*' the  gift  of  God   may  be  purchased  with  siber."     St^ 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  23 

er  went  afterwards  toLjdda,  where  he  healed  Eneas, 
mail,  Avho,  for  eight  years,  had  been  confined  to  his 
d  by  a  palsy.  At  Joppe  he  raised  to  life  a  woman, 
died  Tabitha,  who  was  remarkable  for  her  alms  to  the 
or.  It  was  at  Joppe  that  St.  Peter  was  called  by  di- 
,jiiie  appointme.it,  and  instructed  by  a  mysterious  vision 
IB  communicate  the  faith  to  the  Gentiles  in  the  person  of 
Cornelius,  a  Roman  Centurion,  who  was  remarkable  for 
his  piety  to  od,  and  his  alms-deeds  to  the  poor.  Cor- 
nelius residing  then  at  Ctesarea,  the  capital  of  Palestine, 
wSls  on  his  part  admonished  by  an  angel  to  send  for  Si- 
mon,  surnamed  Peter,  who  accordingly  made  no  diffi- 
culty of  going  to  Caesarea,  where,  after  explaining  the 
doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  virtuous  Centurion  and 
his  family,  he  had  the  consolation  of  seeing  them  inspir- 
ed by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  endowed  with  the  miraculous 
gift  of  tongues,  which  determined  the  Apostle  to  baptize 
them  upon  the  spot. 

KThe  conversion  of  Saul  afforded  also  great  consolation 
d  joy  to  the  Church.  St.  Augustine  ascribes  it  to  the 
ayers  of  St.  Stephen  for  his  persecutors.  If  Stephen, 
says  he,  had  not  prayed,  the  Church  would  never  have 
had  St.  Paul.  He  was  one  of  those  who  combined  to 
murder  St.  Stephen,  and  by  keeping  the  garments  of  all 
who  stoned  that  holy  martyr,  he  is  said,  by  St.  Augus- 
tine, to  have  stoned  him  by  the  hands  of.  all  the  rest. 
He  was  a  denizen  of  Tarsus,  the  capital  of  Cihcia,  in- 

iructed  at  Jerusalem  in  the  strictest  observance  of  the 
aw  of  Moses,   and  a  most   scrupulous  observer  of  it  in 
^ery  point.     Not  satisfied   with   having   signalized  his 
sal  in  the  persecution  at  Jerusalem,  he  breathed  noth- 
ing but  blood  and  slaughter  against  the  Disciples  of  our 
Lord.     By  the  violences  he  committed,  his  name  became 
ery  where  a  terror  to  the  faithful.       In  the  fury  of  his 
al  he  applied  to  the   Sanhedrim  for  a    commission  to 
e  up  all  Jews  at  Damascus  who  confessed  Jesus  Christ, 
d  bring  them  bound  in  chains  to  Jerusalem,  that  they 

ight  serve  as  public  examples  for  the  terror  of  others. 

'  33ut  God  was  pleased  to  show  forth  on  him  his  patience  and 
mercy,  and  changed  him,  in  the  very  heat  of  his  fury, 
into  a  vessel  of  election,  and  a  most  illustrious  instrument 
of  his  glory  :  He  was  almost  at  the  end  of  his  journey 
to  Damascus,  a  city  of  Coelesyria,  when,  about  noon,  he 


24  HISTORY    6F    the 

and  his  company  were  on  a  sudden  surrounded  by  a 
great  light  from  Heaven,  brigjhter  than  the  sun.  They 
all  saw  the  light,  and  being  struck  with  amazement,  fell 
to  the  ground  ;  then  Saul  heard  a  voice  speaking  to  him 
in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  Saul,  Saul,  why  dost  thou  jjcrsecule 
mc  ?  Christ  said  not,  Why  dost  thou  persecute  my  Dis- 
ciples, but  me  ;  for  it  is  he,  their  Head,  who  is  chiefly 
persecuted  in  his  servants.  Saul  answered,  TVho  art 
thoUy  Lord  1  Christ  said,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whom  thou 
persecutest.  It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the  goad;  to 
contend  with  one  so  much  mightier  than  tliyself.  By 
persecuting  my  Church,  you  make  it  flourish,  and  only 
hurt  yourself.  This  mild  expostulation  of  our  Redeemer, 
accompanied  with  a  powerful  interior  grace,  strongly 
affecting  his  soul,  cured  his  pride,  assuaged  his  rage, 
and  wrought  at  once  a  total  change  in  him  ;  wherefore, 
trembling  and  astonished,  he  cried  out,  JLord,  ivhat  i<:ilt 
thou  have  me  to  do  i  What  to  repair  the  past  ?  What 
to  promote  your  glory  ?  I  make  a  joyful  oblation  of  my- 
self to  execute  your  will  in  every  thing,  and  to  sufier 
for  your  sake  afflictions,  disg;races,  persecutions,  tor- 
ments, and  every  sort  of  death.  The  true  convert  ex- 
pressed this,  not  hi  a  bare  form  of  words  ;  nor  with  faint, 
languid  desires  ;  nor  with  any  exception  lurking  in  the 
secret  recesses  of  his  heart ;  but  with  an  entire  sacrifice 
t)f  himself,  and  an  heroic  victory  over  the  world,  witli 
its  frowns  and  charms  ;  over  the  devils,  with  their  snares 
and  threats  ;  and  over  himself,  and  all  inclination  of  self- 
love,  devoting  himself  totally  to  God  :  a  perfect  model 
of  a  true  conversion,  the  greatest  work  of  Almighty 
Grace  !  Christ  ordered  him  to  rise  and  proceed  on  his 
journey  to  the  city,  where  he  should  be  informed  of  what 
he  required  from  him.  Christ  might  as  easily  have  in- 
structed him  immediately  by  himself,  but,  as  St.  Augustine 
observes,  he  sent  him  to  the  ministry  which  he  had  estab- 
lished in  his  Church,  to  be  directed  in  the  way  of  salva- 
tion, by  those  whom  he  had  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
He  would  not  finish  the  conversion  and  instruction  of  this 
great  Apostle,  but  by  remitting  him  to  the  guidance  of 
his  ministers  ;  showing  us  thereby,  that  it  is  his  divine 
wifl  that  a  due  respect  be  paid  to  those  powers,  which  he 
has  established  upon  earth,  and  that  all  who  desire  to 
serve  him,  should  seek  his  will  by  listening  to  the  Pas- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  2^ 

tors  of  his  Church,  whom  he  has  commanded  us  to  hear, 
and  whom  he  has  sent  in  his  own  nam6,  and  appointed  to 
be  our  spiritual  guides.  So  perfectly  would  he  abolish 
in  his  servants  all  self-confidence  and  presumption,  the 
source  of  error  and  illusion.  The  Convert,  rising  from 
the  ground,  found  that  though  his  eyes  were  open,  he 
saw  nothing  :  this  corporeal  blindness  being  an  emblem 
of  the  spiritual  blindness  in  which  he  had  lived,  and 
giving  him  to  understand  that  he  was  henceforward  to 
die  to  the  world,  and  learn  to  apply  his  mind  totally  to 
the  contemplation  of  heavenly  things.  His  attendants 
took  him  by  the  hand,  and  conducted  him  to  Damascus, 
where  he  remained  bhnd  for  three  days,  without  eating 
or  drinking  the  whole  time.  After  this  time  of  proba- 
tion and  interior  trial,  which  he  doubtless  spent  in  be- 
wailing his  past  blindness  and  false  zeal  against  the 
Church,  a  certain  Disciple  of  distinction  in  Damascus, 
called  Ananias,  being  admonished  by  our  Lord  in  a 
vision,  laid  his  hands  on  Saul,  saying  to  him.  Brother 
Saul,  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  appeared  to  thee  on  thy  jour*- 
ney,  hath  sent  me,  that  thou  mayest  receive  thy  sight, 
and  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  Immediately  some- 
thing like  scales  fell  from  his  eyes,  and  recovering  his 
sight  at  the  moment,  he  rose  up,  was  baptized,  and 
took  some  refreshment.  He  remained  some  few  days 
with  the  Disciples  at  Damascus,  and  began  immediately 
to  preach  in  the  Jewish  Synagogue  that  Jesus  was  the 
^Son  of  God,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  all  that  heard 
him,  and  that  knew  that  he  came  to  persecute  the  very 
doctrine  which  he  now  so  strenuously  supported.  The 
Jews,  imable  to  withstand  his  arguments,  and  yet  unwil- 
ling to  embrace  his  doctrine,  sought  to  take  away  his 
life  ;  and  though  he  would  have  beeu  happy  to  seal  the 
truth  by  the  effusion  of  his  blood,  yet  in  hopes  of  reserv- 
ing himself  for  some  greater  good,  by  labouring  for  the 
salvation  of  others,  he  permitted  his  friends  to  let  him 
down  the  walls  of  the  city  of  Damascus  in  a  basket  by 
night,  and  thus  he  escaped  out  of  the  hands  of  his  ene- 
mies. In  about  three  years  after  his  conversion,  which 
he  spent  in  Arabia,  preparing  himself  for  the  Apostleship 
of  the  Gentiles,  he  was  introduced  by  St.  Barnabas  to 
St.  Peter  and  St.  James  at  Jerusalem,  and  admitted  there 
amongst  the  Disciples  of  Jesus  Christ.      But  his  gre^t 


26  HISTOHY   OF    TiiE 

zeal,  which  would  not  suffer  him  to  remain  either  silent  or 
inactive,  soon  drew  upon  him  a  persecution,  which  must 
have  ended  in  his  death,  had  not  his  brethren  prevented 
it  by  sending  him  away  to  Caesarea  and  Tarsus.  He  was 
afterwards  called  by  the  name  of  Paul,  as  it  is  supposed, 
from  the  surname  of  the  illustrious  Proconsul  Sergius 
Paulus,  whom  he  converted  to  the  Christian  religion. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  gates  of  the  Church  arc  opened  to  the  Gentiles,  and 
the  Apostles  announce  the  happy  tidings  of  salvation 
to  different  nations. 

THE  manifold  benefits  which  the  Saviour  of  the 
world  came  to  confer  on  mankind  were  first  offered  to 
the  Jews,  but  the  great  body  of  that'  carnal  and  stiff- 
necked  people  being  professed  enemies  of  Christ,  openly 
rejected  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostles.  The  hght  of  the 
Gospel  passed  therefore  from  them,  and  was  transferred 
to  a  people  that  was  sitting  in  the  darkness,  and  in  the 
gloomy  shades  of  death.  The  mystery  of  the  vocation 
of  the  Gentiles  began  then  to  be  accomplished,  and  it  ap- 
peared that  God  was  not  a  respecter  of  persons,  and  that 
he  excepted  none  from  his  mercy,  but  out  of  his  pure 
bounty  called  all  to  partake  in  the  grace  of  eternal  lif^, 
of  whatsoever  nation  they  might  be  by  descent  or  birth. 
It  began  to  be  known  that  his  coverrant  was  no  longer 
annexed  to  a  certain  race  of  people,  but  was  to  be  com- 
municated to  all  nations  by  a  spiritual  regeneration  ;  and 
that  the  true  Israelites  were  not  only  the  children  of 
Abraham  according  to  the  flesh,  but  the  imitators  of  his 
faith,  and  the  children  of  the  promise,  whether  Jews  or 
Gentiles,  who  seek  sincerely  to  please  God  by  faith  and 
good  works.  Hence  the  Apostles  spread  over  the  globe, 
each  of  them,  like  the  Angel  mentioned  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, flying  with  his  gospel  through  the  air,  as  the  spirit 
^ides  him.  Fired  with  zeal,  they  resolve  to  communi- 
cate the  divine  flame,  with  which  their  hearts  burned,  to 
the  remotest  countries,  and  to  spread  the  happy  tidings 
of  salvation  to  the  very  boundaries  of  the  earth.    The 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  27 

wondering  world  is  roused  by  the  thunder  of  their  voice. 
The  most  barbarous  nations  are  tamed  and  civihzed. 
The  most  populous  and  renowned  cities  hear  their  divine 
eloquence  with  raptures,  and  the  temples  of  the  devils 
fall  to  the  ground  at  the  sound  of  their  words,  as  the 
walls  of  Jericho  fell  af  the  sound  of  the  trumpets  of  Is- 
rael. To  each  of  them  was  assigned  a  part  of  the  world 
for  the  principal  theatre  of  their  apostolic  labours,  by 
which  means  God,  who  before  was  scarce  known  out  of 
Judea,  and  even  there  ill  served,  was,  through  them,  in 
a  few  years,  honoured  and  adored  all  over  the  East  and 
the  South,  and  the  different  regions  of  the  known  world, 
which  made  St.  Paul  apply  to  them  the  following  words 
of  the  royal  Prophet,  Ps.  18. — 7^ heir  sound  ivcnt  forth 
into  all  the  earth,  and  their  tvords  unto  the  cmls  of  the  world. 
It  was  by  preaching,  and  not  by  writing,  that  they  propa- 
gated the  Christian  Religion,  and  gained  over  thousands 
of  souls  to  the  Lord  :  Christ  having  given  them  no  commis- 
sion to  write  the  Gospel,  but  to  preach  and  teach  it.  Seve- 
ral of  them  wrote  nothing  at  all  ;  nor  did  Christ  himself 
commit  any  part  of  his  doctrine  to  paper.  Those  who 
wrote  the  difl'erent  parts  of  the  New  Testament,  never 
converted  any  person  or  nation  by  their  writings,  but  first 
converted  them  by  word  of  mouth,  and  then  wrote  occa- 
sionally, not  with  a  design  to  leave  a  complete  abridg- 
ment of  the  Christian  Doctrine,  but  to  exhort  and  com- 
fort them,  and  to  adjust  their  faith  in  some  controverted 
points.  St.  Matthew  wrote  his  Gospel  about  the  year  of 
hrist  42,  in  the  Syro-Chaldaic  language,  to  satisfy  the 
[converts  of  Palestine.  St.  Mark,  the  disciple  of  St.  Pe- 
ter, wrote  his  Gospel  in  Greek,  at  Rome,  about  the  43d 
year  of  our  Lord,  by  the  persuasion  of  the  faithful.  St. 
Luke,  the  disciple  of  St.  Paul,  wrote  his  Gospel  in  the 
Greek  tongvie,  about  the  year  53,  and  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  in  the  year  63,  in  opposition  to  some  false  his- 
tories. St.  John  wrote  his  Gospel  at  Ephesus,  about  the 
year  98,  at  the  request  of  the  bishops  of  Asia,  to  refute 
the  blasphemous  errors  and  heresies  of  Cerinthus  and 
Ebion.  The  rule  of  faith,  by  v/hich  the  true  believers 
were  directed  in  the  apostolic  age,  and  instructed  in  the 
practice  of  all  Christian  duties,  was  the  living  voice  of 
the  Pastors  of  the  Church,  and  not  the  dead  letter  of  the 
Scriptures,  which   the  generality  of  mankind,  perhaps 


28  HISTORY   OF   THE 

not  one  in  some  thousands,  could  make  use  of  in  those 
days,  as  very  few  then  learned  to  read  at  all,  and  as 
there  were  none  but  written  books  in  the  world,  until  the 
art  of  printing-  was  invented  about  thirteen  hundred  years 
after  the  days  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles* 

Immediately  after  the  ordination  of  St.  Paul  and  St. 
Barnabas,  they  both  set  out  together,  and  preached  with 
such  unwearied  zeal  and  amazing  success,  that  they 
brought  over  to  the  faith  innumerable  multitudes,  both  of 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  by  their  ministry.  The  zeal  of  St. 
Paul  seemed  to  quicken,  as  he  advanced  in  his  aposto- 
lic labours.  The  more  he  was  persecuted,  and  the  more 
he  suffered,  the  more  his  heart  was  on  fire.  The  glory 
of  God,  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  were  the  only  ob- 
jects that  occupied  his  thoughts.  He  allowed  himself  no 
rest,  but  travelled  from  province  to  province,  from  one 
island  to  another,  braving  every  danger  by  land  and  by 
sea.  He  employed  twenty-five  years  in  announcing 
Jesus  Christ  through  all  the  different "  states  of  Greece, 
and  in  the  various  provinces  of  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Cili- 
cia,  Phrygia,  &c.  The  gift  of  miracles  was  so  conspi- 
cuous in  him,  that  even  the  handkerchiefs  and  aprons 
which  had  touched  his  body  healed  the  sick,  and  put 
the  infernal  spirits  to  flight.  He  founded  many  numer- 
ous Churches,  particularly  in  the  great  cities  of  Philippi, 
Thessalonica,  Beroea,  Athens,  Corinth,  Ephesus,  Co- 
losse,  Galatia,  Crete,  Sec.  and  wherever  he  founded  any 
local  and  particular  Church,  he  took  care  to  ordain  and 
appoint  a  Bishop,  Priests,  and  Deacons,  to  rule  and  gov- 
ern it,  according  to  the  form  of  government  established 
by  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  he  ordained  Timothy,  Bishop  of 
Ephesus  ;  Titus,  Bishop  of  Crete  ;  Dionysius,  the 
Areopagite,  Bishop  of  Athens,  &c.  that  they  might  gov- 
ern their  respective  Churches,  and  keep  up  a  lawful 
succession  of  pastors,  by  stirring  up  the  grace  of  God, 
and  communicating  to  others  after  them  the  spiritual 
powers  of  the  Priesthood,  which  they  had  received  by 
the  imposition  of  his  hands. — 2  Tim.  1.  6. 

In  like  manner  the  rest  of  the  Apostles  planted  local 
Churches  in  all  considerable  cities,  and  ordained  Bishops 
to  govern  them.  They  preached  the  Gospel  with  inde- 
fatigable zeal  wherever  they  went,  and  they  had  the  con- 
solation to  see  their  labours  crowned  with  wonderful  sue- 


i 


caURCH   OP   CHRIST.  29 

cess.  St.  Andrew,  brother  to  St.  Peter,  preached  in 
Scythia,  Thrace,  Epiriis,  and  Achaia.  St.  James  the 
Greater,  brother  to  St.  John  the  EvangeHst,  preached  in 
Judea.  St.  John  preached  in  Lesser  Asia.  St.  Thomas 
in  Parthia,  and  other  Eastern  nations.  St.  James  the 
Lesser,  brother  of  St.  Jude,  preached  in  Judea.  St.  Phi- 
lip preached  in  the  two  Phrygias,  and  in  other  provin- 
ces of  the  East.  St.  Bartholomew  carried  the  Gospel 
into  India,  amongst  the  Brachmans,  and  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  life  preached  in  the  Greater  Armenia.  St. 
Matthew  preached  the  faith  in  Ethiopia,  Parthia,  and 
Persia.  St.  Jude  or  Thadseus,  brother  to  St.  James  the 
Lesser,  preached  in  Persia,  Arabia,  Mesopotamia,  and 
the  people  of  Edessa.  St.  Matthias,  after  labouring  zea- 
lously in  Judea,  preached  in  the  countries  bordering  on 
the    Euxine    and  Caspian  Seas. 

St.  Peter  spent  seven  years  in  preaching  over  a  great 
part  of  Lesser  Asia,  in  settling  Christianity  in  Pontus, 
Galatia,  Cappadochia,  and  Bithynia.  He  preached  for  a 
considerable  time  in  Jerusalem,  until  that  Church,  which 
first  gave  birth  to  Christianity,  and  which  sprung  from 
him  and  the  rest  of  the  Apostles  and  Disciples,  became 
very  considerable,  and  was  settled  upon  a  very  respect- 
able footing.  It  was  already  composed  of  persons  of 
every  sex,  age,  and  condition,  when  St.  Luke  wrote  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  The  Lord  adding  daily  to  the  Church 
such  as  should  be  saved.^— Acts  2.  47.  St.  Peter,  in  par- 
ticular, wrought  so  many  illustrious  miracles  there,  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  and  cities  round  about 
erusalem  flocked  to  him  from  every  side,  and  brought 
heir  sick  into  the  streets,  and  laid  them  on  beds  and 
couches,  that  the  shadow  at  least  of  this  great  Apostle 
ight  reach  them,  as  he  passed  along,  and  heal  their  in- 
rmities.  Herod  Agrippa,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Jews, 
caused  him  at  length  to  be  apprehended  and  imprisoned 
under  a  strong  guard,  designing  to  put  him  to  death. 
The  faithful  were  in  the  deepest  consternation  at  the 
disastrous  event,  rightly  judging,  that  the  welfare  of  the 
flock  was  closely  connected  with  that  of  the  pastor,  and 
therefore  day  and  night  did  they  send  up  their  most  fer- 
vent prayers  to  Heaven  for  his  deliverance  The  Al- 
mighty graciously  heard  their  petition,  and  delivered  his 
Apostle  on  the  very  night  that  preceded  his  intended  ex- 
C  2 


30  HISTORY   OF    THE 

ecution.  Bound  with  two  chains,  he  lay  asleep  between 
two  soldiers  in  the  prison,  perfectly  resigned  within  him- 
self, either  to  life  or  death,  when  an  angel  of  the  Lord 
came  with  great  brightness  to  the  place,  and,  striking 
him  on  the  side,  said.  Arise  quickly.  That  moment  the 
chains  fell  off  from  the  Apostle's  hands  ;  he  speedily 
arose,  put  on  his  sandals,  threw  his  garment  round  him, 
and  followed  the  Angel  through  the  first  and  second  ward, 
till  they  came  to  the  iron  gate,  which  of  itself  flew  open 
at  their  approach  ;  and  thus  the  Sovereign  Disposer  of 
all  things  here  below  set  bounds  to  the  power  of  a  tyrant, 
and  miraculously  rescued  his  Apostle  out  of  his  hands. 

St.  James  the   Elder  being  appointed    the   particular 
Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  St.  Peter   removed    his   apostolic 
see  to  the  city  of  Antioch,  the  capital   of  Syria   and  of 
all  the  East,  where  the  followers   of  Christ's   doctrine 
were  first  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Christians.  They 
increased  there  amazingly,  and  formed  a  very  numerous 
Church,  of  which  St.  Evodius  and  St.  Ignatius  were  the 
first  Bishops  after  the  removal  of  St.  Peter  from  Antioch 
to  Rome  ;  for  this   zealous  Apostle,  not   content   with 
founding  the  two  great  Churches  of  Jerusalem  and  An- 
tioch, resolved  to  set  up  the  standard  of  the  Cross  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  the  very  metropoHs  of  the  world.     Hence 
he  went  to  Rome  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  42,  being  the 
second  year  of  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Claudius,  and 
planted  a  very  flourishing  Church  in  that  city,  which  he 
chose  for  the  chief  seat  of  his   labours,  and  made  his 
own   particular  see,  and  in  that   quality  the  capital  of 
Christendom,  and  the  first  and  most  eminent  of  all  other 
particular   Churches,  on   account   of  the   authority  and 
pre-eminence  of  its  chief  pastor.     The  faith  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  was  spoken  of  throughout  the  whole  world.     Rom. 
1.8.  even  some  time  before  St.  Paul  had  arrived  there, 
for  he  had  never  been  at  Rome  when  he  wrote  his  epis- 
tle to  the  Romans  (in  the  year  57,)  as  appears  from  his 
own  words,  Rom.  1.  13.  and   15.  22.  and  when  he  ar- 
rived in  Italy,  and  was  on  his  way  to  Rome,  he  had  the 
pleasure  to  meet  numbers,  of  the  faithful,  who  embraced 
him  with  open  arms. 

However,  though  the  Church  of  Rome  was  in  a  very 
flourishing  condition  before  the  arrival  of  St.  Paul,  it 
made  such  acquisitiooB  by  the  labours  and  preaching  of 


CHURCH   OF   CHRIST.  31 

this  Apostle,  that  he  is  considered,  jointly  with  St.  Peter, 
a  principal  founder  of  it.     Hence,  St.    Irenaeus,  in.  the 
following  century,  calls  the  Church  of  Rome  the  greatest 
and  most   antient   Churchy  founded  and  established  by  the 
two  most  glorious  Apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  lib.  3.  c.  8. 
Divine  Providence,  which  had  raised  the  Roman  Empire 
for  the  more   easy  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  many 
countries,  was  pleased  to  fix  the  fortress  of  faith  in  that 
great  metropolis,  that  it  might  be   easily  diffused  from 
the  head  into  all  parts  of  the  imiverse.     Nothing  can  be 
more  incontestable  in  history,  than  that  St.  Peter  v^^as 
the  founder  and  first  Bishop  of  the  see  of  Rome.     In  this 
the  concurring  testimony  of  all  ancient  Christian  writers 
down  from  St.  Ignatius,  the  Disciple  of  this  Apostle,  is 
unanimous.     Eusebius,  the  parent  of  Church   history  : 
St.  Jerom  ;  and  the  old  Roman  calendar,  published  by 
Bucherius,  says,  that  St.  Peter  held  the  see  of  Rome 
twenty-five  years,  though  he  was  often  absent  upon  his 
apostolic  functions  in  other  countries,  where   he  visited 
the  faithful,  like  unto  a  general  who  makes  his  rounds, 
says  St.  John  Chrysostome,  to  see  if  all  things  are  every 
where  in  good  order.     It  is  not  to   be  doubted  but   he 
preached  the  Gospel  over  all  Italy,  as  Eusebius,  Rufinus, 
and  others  assure  us  ;  for  though  he  and  several  of  the 
Apostles  chose  particular  sees  for  themselves,  among  the 
Churches  which  they  founded,  nevertheless  they  did  not 
so  confine  themselves  to  single  cities,  as  to  forget  their 
•universal  commission  of  preaching  to  all  nations,  except 
that  St.  James  fixed  his  residence  at  Jerusalem,  for  the 
j|Biake  of  the  Jews. 

^  From  Rome  Christianity  was  soon  spread  through  all 
the  regions  of  the  West,  and  through  all  the  provinces  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  It  was  from  Rome  that  St.  Peter 
wrote  his  two  epistles  to  the  converts  he  had  made  during 
the  seven  years  that  he  was  Bishop  of  Antioch.  He  in- 
deed calls  that  city  Babylon,  as  St.  John  also  does  in  the 
pocalypse,  because  Rome  was  then  the  chief  seat  both 
of  the  Empire  and  of  Pagan  idolatry,  as  formerly  Baby- 
lon had  been  ;  but  as  Babylon  in  Chaldea  was  at  that 
time  nothing  but  a  heap  of  ashes,  the  best  interpreters 
by  Babylon  understand  heathenish  Rome.  It  was  also 
from  this  city  that  St.  Peter  sent  his  disciple,  St.  Mark 
the  Evangelist,  to  found  the  great  church  of  Alexaudria, 


ii^j 


^2 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


the  capital  of  Egypt,  and  then  the  second  in  the  world, 
with  several  other  churches  in  Libya  and  Pentapolis. 
Among  the  disciples  of  St.  Peter  who  helped  to  propagate 
the  Church  of  Christ  in  the  West,  one  of  the  most  re- 
nowned was  St.  ApoUinaris,  who  founded  the  Church  of 
Ravenna.  Seven  other  disciples  were  ordained  Bishops, 
and  sent  to  found  Churches,  in  Spain,  viz.  Torquatus, 
Ctesiphon,  Secundus,  Indaletus,  Caecilius,  Hesychiiis, 
and  Euphrasius.  St.  Polycarp,  the  disciple  of  St.  John 
the  Evangehst,  was  ordained  Bishop  of  Smyrna.  By  the 
Angels  of  the  seven  Churches  in  Asia,  mentioned  in  the 
Apocalypse,  are  meant  the  seven  Bishops  who  governed 
those  sees.  All  those  local  and  particular  Churches 
were  linked  together  in  the  same  Communion,  with  due 
subordination,  and  by  this  means  they  only  composed 
one  Catholic  Church,  one  mystical  body,  one  sheejyfold  under 
one  shepherd,  and  one  visible  head.  They  all  persevered 
in  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostles,  and  believed  and  taught 
all  the  divine  truths  revealed  by  Jesus  Christ,  as  they 
had  received  them  from  the  Apostles,  and  from  their  dis- 
ciples and  successors,  who  were  regularly  called,  ordained, 
and  authorized  by  them,  and  to  whom  they  communi- 
cated the  same  necessary  powers,  which  they  had  receiv- 
ed from  Jesus  Christ,  to  govern  the  Church  that  he  had 
purchased  with  his  blood,  and,  according  to  their  exam- 
ple and  instructions,  to  revive,  carry  on,  and  perpetuate 
an  hierarchy  and  lawful  succession  of  pastors,  co-operat- 
ing in  the  great  work  of  the  ministry  to  the  end  of  time 
for  the  salvation  of  souls  ;  for  as  in  the  temporal  repub- 
lic no  person  is  to  usurp  the  reigns  of  government,  or 
to  thrust  himself  into  the  functions  of  public  power,  un- 
less he  be  duly  authorised  and  deputed  thereto,  so  in  like 
manner  no  one  is  to  intrude  himself  into  the  pastoral 
office,  or  presume  to  exercise  the  sacred  powers  of  the 
priesthood  in  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  the  Church,  unless 
he  be  called  to  that  high  office,  and  be  ordained  and  law- 
fully sent.  Even  St.  Paul  and  St.  Barnabas,  though  im- 
mediately called  by  Heaven,  could  not  exercise  the  func- 
tions of  the  Priesthood  until  they  were  ordained  and  sent 
by  the  pastors  of  the  Church,  as  appears  from  the  1.3th 
c.  of  the  Acts,  3d  v.  which  plainly  shows  the  necessity 
of  a  lawful  mission,  and  how  little  credit  is  to  be  given 
to  new  gospellers,  ivlw  do  not  enter  into  the  sheepfold  by  the 


CfBURCH    OP    CHRIST.  33 

door  ;  St.  John  10  ;  but  come  of  their  own  accord,  and 
by  their  own  private  authority,  like  the  false  prophets  in 
the  Old  Law.  How  can  they  preachy  unless  they  be  sent  ? 
Rom.  10,  15. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

f%e  stupendous  Progress  of  the  Christian  Religiony  and 
{  the  happy  Fruits  it  produced  in  the  world, 

JESUS  CHRIST  had  foretold  that  his  Gospel  should 
be  preached  all  over  the  world,  and  that  after  his  death 
he  would  draw  all  things  to  himself,  when  he  would  be 
exalted  from  the  earth,  and  fastened  on  the  cross.     He 
ll^d  compared  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  in  its  weak 
""ginning,  to  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  which,  from  the 
least  of  all  seeds,  grows  to  such  an  height  as  to  surpass 
all  other  shrubs.      Mat.  13.     He  had  also  compared  it 
to  a  little  leaven,  which  being  hid  in  the  dough,  spreads 
through  the  whole  mass,  and  changes  its  nature  by  im- 
parting its  own  qualities.      To  see  his  predictions  accom- 
plished, and  to  be  convinced  that  the  establishment  of  his 
Church  was  a  divine  work  beyond  the  reach  of  the  least 
suspicion  or  possibility  of  error  or  imposture,  we   need 
but  consider  the  amazing  rapidity  and  success  with  w^hich 
the  Christian  Religion  was  embraced  and  propagated  all 
over  the  known  world,  by  instruments  and  means  in  them- 
selves so  weak  and  inadequate  to  the  undertaking.     In 
the  first  place,  all  human  considerations  conspired  against 
I  (Christianity  :  No  doctrine   could  ever  be  less  calculated 
I  to  meet  with  any  reception  or  encouragement  in  a  world 
I  that  was  strangely  attached  to  an  old  religion,  settled 
and  confirmed  by  a  long  prescription  of  many  ages.  The 
r.'hristian  Religion  thwarted  all  the  darling  inclinations  of 
nature,  and  tended  directly  to  pull  down  the  pride  of  the 
understanding  and  of  the  heart,  by  proposing  mysteries 
that   appeared   almost   incredible,  and   by  commanding 
things   that  seemed  impracticable.     It  preached  a  God 
i  made  man,  rejected  and  put  to  death  by  his  own  people. 
'  It  declared  war  against  idolatry  and   superstition  ;  and 
'  was  entirely  opposite  to  the  received  maxims  and  prejudi- 


3^  HISTORY    OF    T«E 

I 

ces  of  the  world.  It  taught  self-denial  and  mortification, 
and  inculcated  the  necessity  of  loving  even  our  professed 
enemies  ;  of  doing  good  to  them  that  hate  us,  and  forgiv- 
ing from  our  hearts  all  injuries  and  affronts.  It  recom- 
mended a  contempt  of  what  is  generally  admired,  and 
enforced  the  obligation  of  being  humble  in  our  own  eyes, 
of  flying  the  applause  of  men  in  the  performance  of 
good  works,  and  seeing  in  all  things  the  honour  and  glory 
of  God.  In  short,  it  counteracted  the  favourite  passions 
of  mankind,  and  absolutely  required  a  virtuous  hfe  in  all 
its  professors.  Nevertheless,  these  new  maxims,  these 
self-denying  principles,  these  sublime  mysteries  of  the 
Gospel,  wfere  universally  embraced,  adopted,  and  estab- 
lished, with  such  speed  and  success,  that  we  must  here 
acknowledge  the  finger  of  the  Most  High,  and  confess 
that  the  conversion  of  the  world  to  the  Christian  religion 
was  one  of  the  most  stupendous  and  the  most  evident  of 
miracles. 

This  success  was  the  more  astonishing,  as  the  instru- 
ments chosen  by  Jesus  Christ  for  this  great  design  were 
seemingly  unequal,  disproportionate,  and  unfit  for  laying 
the  foundation  of  such  a  structure  as  the  planting  of  his 
Church  upon  the  ruins  of  Paganism  and  the  destruction 
of  the  Jewish  Synagogue  :  Twelve  poor  fishermen  by 
trade,  without  either  power,  interest,  or  credit  to  favour 
so  great  an  undertaking.  They  had  no  riches  to  bribe 
men  into  their  religion,  no  armies  to  force  them  to  it,  no 
learning  to  impose  upon  them,  no  politics  to  over-reach 
them,  no  rhetoric  to  recommend  their  cause  by  studied  and 
eloquent  discourses.  They  were  not  possessed  of  those  na- 
tural endowments,  which  might  make  impression  on  their 
hearers,  and  conciliate  their  minds  to  a  new  doctrine. 
They  were  men  chosen  from  the  lowest  conditions  of  life, 
destitute  of  all  human  succour,  and  without  the  advantages 
of  education.  Men,  who  by  the  obscm-ity  of  their  birth  and 
by  their  natural  pusillanimity,  were  accustomed  to  tremble 
before  people  in  power,  and  whom  Christ  himself  com- 
pared to  sheep  in  ike  midst  of  wolves.  Yet  it  was  by  instri;- 
ments  and  means  in  themselves  so  weak,  that  the  predic- 
tions of  Christ,  relative  to  the  success  of  the  gospel  and 
the  propagation  of  the  Christian  religion,  were  speedily  and 
most  wonderfully  accomplished.  After  the  Holy  Ghost 
had  shed   his   beams   upon  ihe\n,  they  were   instantly 


CHITRCH   OF    CHRIST.  35 

changed  into  other  men.     They  were  inspired  with  such 
a  spirit  of  zeal,  and  such  supernatural  force  of  elocution, 
as  was  not  to  be  resisted.     They  entered  the  lists  against 
troops  of  sophists,  orators,  and  philosophers,  and  combated 
the  false   maxims  of  Pagan  antiquity.     They  confuted, 
confounded,  and  triumphed  over  the  proud  scholars  of 
Plato's  academy,  of  Aristotle's  lycaeum  and  of  the  por- 
ticos of  the  Stoics.     They  were  endued  with  an  intre- 
pidity which  no  torments  could  subdue,  nor  death  intimi- 
date.    They  received  a  spirit  of  heavenly  knowledge  and 
light,  a  spirit  of  sanctity  and  charity,  a  spirit  of  fortitude 
and  strength,  which  enabled  them  to  beat  down  the  elo- 
quence   and    learning  of  the    philosophers    and    sages, 
■fcnongst  both  the  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  to  triumph  over 
"The  combined  oppositions  of  the  kings  and  powers  of  the 
earth.     So  powerful  was  the  spirit  of  God  which  enlight- 
ened their  understandings,  and  spoke  by  their  mouths  ; 
gAnd  such  was  the  evidence  of  their  testimony,  confirmed 
1^  innumerable  miracles,  and   by  the   heavenly  temper 
and  sanctity  which  their  words  and  actions  breathed,  that 
it  was  impossible  for  the  most  obstinate  infidel  to  harbour 
the  least  suspicion  of  human  contrivance.     The  miracu- 
lous powers  with  which  they  were  vested  from  above,  were, 
I  may  say,  the  credentials  of  Heaven  that  indicated  the 
truth  of  their  doctrine,  and  stamped  on  it  the  seal  of  di- 
vine attestation  in  the  'brightest  characters.      This  made 
Picus  of  Mirandula  say,  "  If  I  could  be  deceived  in  thy 
*'  faith,  thou  alone,  O  Lord,  must  have  been  the  author 
"  of  my  error,  so  evident  are  the  marks  of  thy  authority 

t which    it  bears."        This   also    made    St.  Augustine 
y,  lib.  22.  de  Civ.  c.  8.     ^'  Whoever  still  asks  for  mi- 
racles, before  he  will  be  induced  to  believe  the  Gos- 
pel, is  himself  a  prodigy  of  incredulity,  who  will  not 
believe  such  a  doctrine,  which  he  sees  the  whole  world 
•  has  been  compelled  by  clear  conviction  to  believe." 
To  all  who  sincerely  seek  after  truth,  it  is  evidently  a 
illar  of  light  ;  and  if  to  the  perverse  it  is  sometimes 
urned  into  a  cloud  of  darkness,  it  is  because  the  beams 
of  this  sun,  though  most  bright  and  piercing,  become 
impervious  to  their  pride   and  passions.     No  sooner  did 
the  Christian  Religion  make  its  appearance,  than  it  began 
to  lay  open  to  view  the  errors  to  which  mankind  had  been 
enslaved,  and  to  withdraAv  the  veil  of  ignorance  which 


Sfe  WSTORY   OF   TUt 

had  overshadowed  human  reason.  It  diffused  the  good 
odour  of  the  Christian  virtues  of  meekness  and  humiHty 
on  all  sides,  and  warmed  the  hearts  of  sinners  by  its 
divine  flames.  It  united  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  people  of 
different  countries,  humours,  manners,  and  interests, 
in  the  bonds  of  fraternal  love.  It  associated  together 
in  the  same  fold  lions,  bears,  wolves,  and  tygers,  with 
the  sheep  and  the  lambs,  as  the  prophet  Isaiah  had  fore- 
told with  astonishment.  It  joined  in  the  same  commu- 
nion men  of  different  nations,  who  had  been  insatiable 
as  wolves  by  avarice,  furious  as  tygers  with  anger,  revenge, 
and  jealousy,  crafty  as  bears  by  dissimulation  and  hypo^ 
crisy,  haughty  and  uncontrollable  as  lions  by  ambition 
and  pride.  It  perfectly  extinguished  these  passions  in 
the  breasts  of  the  first  believers,  and  transformed  into 
lambs  the  furious  wild  beasts  who  had  torn  in  pieces  the 
innocent  Lamb  of  God,  and  who  had  gloried  before  in 
destroying  their  fellow  creatures.  Was  any  thing  but  a 
divine  hand  able  to  work  such  a  wonderful  change  in  the 
world,  and  to  strike  such  a  heavenly  concord  out  of  such 
a  jarring  discord  of  complexions,  constitutions,  and  in- 
terests ?  Such  were  the  happy  fruits  that  the  Christian 
religion  produced  in  the  infancy  of  the  Church.  A  new 
people  was  formed,  and  the  new  sacrifice  and  pure  ob- 
lation, foretold  by  the  prophet  Malachy,  began  to  be 
offered  in  every  place.  The  wild  olive  tree,  as  St.  Paul 
speaks,  Rom.  11.  ivas  grafted  into  the  good  olive  tree,  in 
order  to  partake  of  its  root  and  fatness.  The  Gentiles 
were  united  in  spirit  to  the  converted  Jews,  and  made 
with  them  one  tree,  one  body,  one  people.  Thus  they 
entered  into  the  stock  of  Abraham,  became  his  children 
by  faith,  and  partook  of  the  promises  which  had  been 
made  to  him.  The  multitude  of  the  believers^  says  St. 
Xiiike,  Acts  4,  32.  had  but  one  heart  and  one  soul.  The 
very  Heathens  themselves  admired  the  perfect  union  and 
harmony  they  lived  in,  and,  as  Tertullian  informs  us, 
were  often  heard  to  say,  with  surprise,  See,  hov)  the 
Christians  love  each  other.  They  learned  from  the  exam- 
ple of  their  teachers  so  perfect  a  spirit  of  disinterested- 
ness, contempt  of  the  world,  and  thirst  after  eternal  goods, 
that  they  lived  in  common,  and  retained  no  possessions 
which  were  not  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  community. 
The  cold  words  mim  and  thine,  by  which  charity  is  often 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  Qlf 

extinguished  among  men,  were  unknown  to  them.  They 
had  no  desire  ot*  riches,  but  such  as  were  spiritual.  They 
knew  no  other  ambition  than  to  serve  and  to  be  subject 
to  all  in  Christ.  They  were  so  perfectly  disengaged  from 
the  transitory  thi.igs  of  this  life,  that  the  rich  sold  their 
estates,  laid  the  p)ice  at  the  feet  of  the  Apostles,  and 
consecrated  it  to  God,  that  it  might  be  equally  distributed 
to  such  as  were  indigent,  no  one  looking  upon  what  he 
possessed  as  belonging  to  himself  more  than  to  his  neigh- 
boui'.  A  rigorous  judj;ment  befel  Ananias  and  Saphira 
liis  wife,  for  having  avariciously  and  secretly  retained  to 
themselves  a  part  of  the  money  they  had  received  for  a 
field  they  had  sold :  They  hypocritically  pretended  to 
resign  the  whole  price  to  the  public  use,  and  told  a  lie  to 
the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  person  of  his  ministers  ;  where- 
fore, St.  Peter  having  reprimanded  them  for  their  frau- 
dulent proceedings,  and  for  the  breach  of  the  vow  and 
promise  they  had  made  to  God,  the  husband  first,  and 
afterward  the  wife,  fell  down  dead  at  his  feet.  The 
faithful,  greatly  alarmed  at  this  melancholy  disaster,  per- 

I  fevered  in  the  docinne  of  the  Apvstles,  in  prayer,   and  in 
,H|/te  communion  of  the  breaking  of  bread,  Acts  4,  2.  that  is 
to  say,  in  the  participation  of  the  holy  mysteries  of  the 
Divine  Eucharist.     Their  humility,  simplicity  of  heart, 
meekness,  patience,  and  other  virtues,  were  such,  that, 
to  use  the  expression  of  St.  John  Chrysostom,  they  seem- 
ed  to   be   transformed  into    Angels.      They   were    not 
swayed  by  passion,  nor  led  astray  by  private    views  : 
Their  chief  concern  was  to  serve  and  honour  God  by  the 
pious  exercises  of  religion.     They  appeared,  by  the  sanc- 
tity of  their  conduct,  to  form  a  new  community,  entirely 
different  from  the   rest  of  mankind  ;  and  they  practised 
■K§uch  transcendent   and   heroic  virtues   as  before  were 
ijdeemed  impossible.      Some,  who  were   called  Ascetics, 
IP  renounced  all  the   pleasures  of  the  world,  and  entered 
r    into  courses  of  the  severest  austerities   of  mortification, 
fasting,  and  self-denial,  after  the  example  of  St  John  the 
Baptist  and  the  Prophets.     Others,  in  imitation  of  the 
Apostles,  who  recommended   virginity,   and  who,  from 
the  commencement  of  their  apostleship  and  vocation  to  the 
ministry,  had  embraced  a  state  of  perpetual  continency, 
consecrated  themselves  to  God  by  vows  of  chastity.  Acts 
21.  and  led  a  fife  entireb'-  new,  entirely  interior,  entirely 
3> 


58  HISTORV    OF    THE  ^ 

Spiritual.  They  employed  their  time  in  heavenly  exer- 
cises, in  hymns  and  canticles  of  praise  and  thanksgiving, 
says  St,  Ambrose,  4ii  contemplating  the  perfections  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  in  meditating  on  his  hountiful  dispensa- 
tions to  mankind,  and  in  aspiring  after  that  state  of  bliss 
which  they  hoped  to  succeed  to,  after  this  present  life. 
Even  they,  who  before  had  been  slaves  to  voluptuous- 
ness, and  victims  of  their  passions,  became  on  a  sudden 
chaste  and  temperate,  meek  and  humble  of  heart,  as 
soon  as  they  were  baptized  and  confirmed  by  the  imposi- 
tion of  the  hands  of  the  Apostles.  They  were  tilled  with 
the  Holy  Qhost,  and  changed  into  Christians  eminent  for 
their  piety  and  other  heroic  virtues.  It  is  impossible  to 
enumerate  the  instances  of  the  rich  that  impoverished 
themselves  to  relieve  the  poor  :  of  the  poor  that  prefer- 
red poverty  to  riches  ;  of  the  virgins  that  imitated  upon 
earth  the  life  of  angels  ;  of  the  penitents  who  embraced 
the  rigours  and  austerities  of  penance  and  mortification 
with  greater  ardour  than  others  did  pleasures  ;  or  of  the 
charitable  pastors,  who  made  themselves  all  things  to  all 
men,  ever  ready  to  bestow  upon  their  flocks  not  only  their 
watchings  and  labours,  but  their  very  lives.  Multitudes 
of  converts,  charmed  by  the  examples  of  such  shining 
virtues,  flocked  every  day  to  the  standard  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  were  incorporated  in  his  Church.  These  were  the 
precious  fruits  that  the  gospel  then  brought  forth,  and  it 
was  thus  that  the  infancy  of  the  Church  was  decorated 
with  the  highest  ornaments  of  religion,  and  its  divine 
origin  was  demonstrated  by  the  edifying  lives  of  the  pri- 
mitive Christians.  This  was  truly  the  age  of  Christian 
perfection,  and  in  it  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  set  up  the 
most  eminent  models  of  all  the  virtues  human  nature  is 
capable  of,  that  the  world  might  see  the  power  of  his 
grace  and  the  excellence  of  his  doctrine,  and  that  all  fu- 
ture ages  might  have  before  their  eyes  a  specimen  of  a 
religious  life,  and  illustrious  examples  of  perfection,  for 
Iheir  encouragement  and  emulation,  ^ 


'  CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  3i9 

Hfl  CHAPTER  v. 

B  The  necessity  and  excellency  of  the  Ghristian  Religion 
■.  evinced  from  the  defective  systems  of  Pagan  Phi* 
K     losojphy. 

m  WHEN  the  light  of  the  Gospel  appeared  on  earth,  it 
dispelled  the  darkness  of  Paganism  and  superstition,  and 
discovered  by  its  native  lustre  the  imperfection  of  all  the 
systems  of  doctrine  and  precepts  of  morality  laid  down 
by  the  philosophers  of  antiquity  for  the  conduct  of  life, 
and  held  in  admiration  for  many  ages,  much  after  the 
same  manner  that,  when  the  great  luminary  of  the  day 
comes  forth,  the  light  of  the  stars  of  the  firmament, 
which  strike  us  with  their  lustre  and  shine  with  advant- 
age in  the  night,  begins  to  fade  and  vanish  out  of  sight. 
We  admire  in  the  writings  of  Plato,  Seneca,  Tully,  Plu- 
tarch, Marcus  Aurelius,  and  other  heathen  philosophers, 
many  excellent  dictates  and  precepts  of  morality. — To 
wear  quite  out  the  knowledge  of  virtue  and  the  image  of 
God  originally  stamped  on  the  rational  soul,  has  been  be- 
yond the  power  of  the  vices  of  men  or  the  malice  of  devils. 
It  was  an  eflect  of  the  Divine  Goodness,  that  the  traces 
of  this  image  should  be  preserved  amidst  the  ruins  that 
followed  the  defection  of  man  from  his  Creator,  that  he 
might  always  have  some  knowledge  of  evil,  and  be  con- 
demned by  the  testimony  of  his  own  conscience,  if  he 
sinned,  and  that  by  these  helps  he  might  apply  himself 
to  know  and  seek  God,  and  discover  the  conformity  of 
his  most  sublime  revealed  law  with  the  law  of  reason. 
Nevertheless,  how  imperfect  and  insufficient  a  guide 
reason  alone  is,  in  the  path  of  perfect  morality,  and  how 
much  it  stands  in  need  of  the  superior  light  of  revelation, 
is  manifest,  because  religion  alone  can  point  out  the 
remedy  and  true  cause  of  our  spiritual  wounds  and  cor- 
ruption, and  both  teach  us  and  conduct  us  to  our  last 
end.  Reason  alone  tells  us,  indeed,  that  we  should  adore 
God,  that  we  should  love  him,  and  pay  him  an  interior 
1^  worship  ;  but  the  bare  light  of  reason  does  not  sufficient- 
ly instruct  us  in  the  nature  of  this  adoration,  of  thi»  love 
and  worship  which  God  requires  of  us,  or  in  the  conse- 
quences that  result  from  the  practice  of  them  :  it  was 
necessary  to  receive  information  on  these  objects  froua 


•^ 


40  HISTORY    OF   THE  4^ 

a  revealed  Religion  ;  it  is  it  that  points  out  to  us  ihe 
origin  of  our  duties,  in  the  positive  will  of  God  ;  the  dr;- 
tail  of  them  in  his  commandments  and  prohibitions  ;  the 
motives  for  the  observance  of  them  in  his  supreme  domi- 
nion, in  our  relations  with  him,  and  in  his  promises  and 
threats  ;  the  means  which  enable  us  to  observe  them,  in 
the  supernatural  helps  which  God  offers  us — in  the  sacra- 
ments, which  are  the  channels  of  them — in  prayer, 
which  obtains  them — and  in  vigilance,  which  guards  and 
preserves  them.  Our  reason  is  confined  :  it  is  with  great 
diflSculty  that  it  acquires  the  knowledge  of  those  truths, 
which  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  know — A  super- 
natural revelation  was  wanting  to  enlarge  its  lights.  Our 
reason  is  uncertain  :  it  finds  unanswerable  difficulties  in 
the  most  evident  dogmas — A  revelation  was  necessary  to 
dissipate  its  doubts.  Our  reason  is  slow  in  its  progress  : 
it  stands  in  need  of  study,  meditation,  and  researches  ; 
few  men  are  capable  of  these,  and  almost  all  are  taken 
up  with  other  concerns — It  was  necessary  that  revelation 
should  place  truth  within  the  reach  of  every  one,  as  every 
pne  is  equally  interested  in  knowing  it.  Our  reason  is 
weak  in  its  efforts :  although  it  is  sensible  of  tiie  advant- 
age of  virtue,  it  is  turned  aside  from  it  by  the  passions  ; 
a  man  must  therefore  be  engaged  to  practice  it  by  a 
powerful  interest,  the  fear  of  punishment  and  the  hopes 
of  reward.  Revelation  therefore  was  necessary,  to  ren- 
der the  knowledge  of  truth  more  clear,  more  enlarged, 
more  certain,  more  common,  more  efficacious. 

The  experience  of  many  ages,  before  the  divine  dis- 
pensation, is  sufficient  to  show  that  human  reasoning  is 
too  weak,  without  the  assistance  of  the  superior  light  of 
revelation,  even  to  directus  safely  in  all  the  paths  of  moral 
virtue.     In  the  present  depraved  state  of  human  nature, 
it  may  be  compared  to  a  weak  glimmering  light  in  a  dark 
night,  which  rather  serves  to  show  a  traveller  that  he  is 
wandering  out  of  the  road,   than  to  direct  him  in  the 
right  way.     If  too  confidently  followed,  and  if  relied  on 
in  things  beyond  its  sphere,  it  easily  leads  astray.     Even 
in  many  points,  in  which  it  is  given  to  be  a  guide,  it  is 
often   eclipsed  by  the   passions,  and  becomes   liable   to 
errors.      Aristotle,  the   most   comprehensive  genius   of 
antiquity,  relying  too  much    on  it,  fell  into  many  glar- 
ing errors,  which  several  heretics  of  the  first  age  adopt-* 


I 


(jHURCli    O]^    CHRIST.  41 


^d  stgainst  the  Gospel,  on  which  account  'he  is  called 
by  Tertullian  the  Patriarch  of  Heretics.  Many  other  philo- 

Bsophers  were  remarkable  for  the  strength  of  their  genius 
and  learning,  and  yet  they  never  were  abl6,  by  the 
force  of  their  reason  and  study,  to  attain  a  knowledge  of 
the  great  supernatural  truths  of  eternity,  as  these  truths 
do  not  fall  under  the  senses  and  reason,  so  as  to  be  exa- 
mined or  investigated  by  them.  Unaware  of  the  weaknes-s 
Kof  human  reason,  unassisted  by  revelation,  they  indeed 
imagined  that  they  could  attain  to  wisdom  by  the  sole 
strength  of  reason  j  but  this  dangerous  persuasion  alone 
was  sufficient  to  lead  them  into  many  extravagant  and 
gross  errors.  What  contradictions  do  we  not  meet  in 
their  doctrines  !  What  prejudices  I  To  how  many  vices 
did  they  give  the  name  of  virtues  !  How  many  crimes 
did  they  canonize  !  What  gross  mistakes,  even  about 
the  Divinity  itself,  and  the  Sovereign  Good !  Varro 
relates  more  than  two  hundred  and  eighty  different  opi- 
nions on  that  single  article  j  some,  with  Epicurus,  teach- 
ing that  it  consisted  in  voluptuousness  ;  others,  With  the 
Stoics,  placing  it  in  virtue  ;  others,  with  the  Peripate- 
tics, making  it  consist  in  knowledge,  &.«.■  Thales, 
the  prince  of  naturalists^  being  asked  by  Croesus  what 
God  was,  put  off  that  prince  from  time  to  time,  saying, 
I  j)ill  consider  on  it ;  a  question  which  the  most  illiterate 
Christian  could  easily  resolve.  Plato,  indeed,  is  remark- 
able for  several  noble  sentiments  on  the  attributes  of  the 
Deity,  particularly  on  his  providence'  ;  and  his  doctrine 
on  the  rewards  and  punishments  in  a  future  state  is  re- 
ally admirable  ;  but  in  his  travels  through  Egypt  and 
Phoenicia,  he  learned  many  traditional  truths  delivered 
down  from  the  patriarchal  ages.     The  lessons  and  max- 

||ims  found  in  the  Enchiridion  of  Epictetus,  and  in  the 
r  meditations  of  Marcus  Aurelius  the  philosopher,  are  truly 
L  sublime  ;  but  these  practical  treatises  are  rather  vain- 
f  glorious  boasts,  or  high  flights  of  eloquence,  than  suitable 
.     antidotes  against  the  most  dangerous  vices.     Such  empty 

11  exclamations  on   the    beauty   of  virtue    cannot    subdue 
lor  regulate  the  heart  of  man,  or  restrain  the  sallies  of 
this  passions  :  it  is  only  in  the  Christian  Religion  that  we 
find  and  possess  this  true  wisdom.     It  is  it  that  teaches  us 
the  great  mysteries  of  our  redemption,  a) id  applies  to  our 
souls  the  remedies  of  our  justification,  and  the  means  o£ 
D  2 


Pi 


4^  HISTORY   OP   THE 

salvation.  It  is  religion  that  teaches  us  to  love  God  with 
our  whole  heart,  and  ahove  all  things.  It  is  religion  that 
directs  us  to  love  our  neighbour,  even  our  enemies,  in 
God  and  for  God.  It  is  religion  that  guides  us  to  seek 
the  glory  of  God,  and  not  our  own  ;  to  please  him,  and 
not  ourselves  ;  to  refer  ourselves,  and  all  that  we  do, 
to  him,  as  to  our  first  beginning  and  last  end  ;  and  to 
place  our  true  happiness  in  the  eternal  enjoyment  of 
him,  and  not  in  any  of  the  perishable  things  of  this  tran- 
sitory life.  These  glorious  ends  of  charity  and  univer- 
sal benevolence  are  not  attainable  on  any  other  but 
^e  principles  of  religion. 

The  beauty  of  the  Christian  morality  and  the  sanctity 
of  its  faithful  professors,  appear  no  where  to  greater  ad- 
vantage, than  when  they  are  contrasted  with  the  imper- 
fect systems  and  false  virtues  of  the  most  famous  sages 
of  the  Heathen  world.      The  very  best   of  them   were 
strangers  to  the  first  lessons  of  Christian  morality.     They 
knew  not  the  name,  much  less  the  practice  of  humihty, 
though  this  virtue  is  nearly  allied  to  truth,  which  they 
pretended  to  pursue.     In  all  the  lessons  which  they  gave 
against  vice,  they  only  taught  men  to  sacrifice  the  lesser 
passions  to  the  greater,  or  to  a  more  refined  self-love, 
pride,  and  vain-glory.      The  ultimate   end,  which  they 
proposed,  went  no  further  than  their  dear  selves,  and 
their  own  interest  and  glory,  or,  at  most,  the  good  of 
virtue  in  itself,  without  any  reference  to  God,  or  to  his 
eternal  rewards  or  punishments.     If  in  many  of  them  we 
admire  great  examples  of  zeal  for  justice,  of  temperance 
in  prosperity,  of  patience  in  adversity,  of  generosity,  of 
courage,  and  the  like  ;  these  were  often  shadows  and 
phantoms,  that  dazzled  and  imposed  on  the  eyes  of  men, 
rather  than  real  virtues,  because,  as  they  sprung  from 
a  principle  of  vanity,  or  at  least  were  tainted  with  a 
more  refined  pride  and  vain  glory,  they  were  vitiated  by 
a.bad  intention,  and  infected  with  the  poison  of  their 
origin,  as  waters,  which  come  from  a  poisonous  spring, 
retain  their  malignant  quality,  through  whatever  delight- 
ful channels  or  groves  they  may  happen  to  pass.     Hence 
St.  Jerome  calls  the    ancient   philosophers  animals   of 
fame,  who  basely  drudged  for  the  breath  of  the  people. 
Tertullian  also  calls  them  traders  in  fame.     Where  ii^ 
the  similitude,  says^  he,  between  a  Philosopher  and  ^ 


CHURCH   OF    CHRIST.  43 

hristian  ?  a  disciple   of  Greece    and    of  Heaven  ?  a 
ader  in  fame  and  a  saver  of  souls  ?  between  a  man  of 
ords  and  a  man  of  works  ?  Apol.  c.  46.     The  Pyrrho- 
ians,  the  Sceptics,  and  Academics,  had  nothing  else  in 
iew  but  to  puzzle  the  other  sects,  and  to  ensnare  them 
jvith  their  subtle  sophisms.     The  Stoics  were  inaccessible 
iBp  all  the  feelings  of  humanity.     One  cannot  read  with- 
IBut  astonishment  the  number  of  temples  that  Greece  was 
'    tilled  with,  and  the   prostitutions  that  were  established 
there   for   the   worship    of  Venus.       Solon   erected   at 
l^thens  a  Temple  to  the  honour  of  that  Goddess,  and  the 
Ifcravest  of  their  philosophers  forbad  drinking  to  excess,  if 
PR  was  not  on  the  feast  of  Bacchus,  and  to  the  honour  of 
that  false  God.      They  were   sensible    that  there   was 
another  God,  very  different  from  those  whom  the  vulgar 
adored.     Yet  Seneca,  Socrates,  Cicero,  &c.  with  all  their 
learning,  fell  into  such  gross  absurdities,  that  they  them- 
selves basely  worshipped   and    sacrificed   to  stocks  and 
stones  with  the  vulgar.     Seneca,  a  native  of  Cordova  in 
^^pain,  and  the  Son  of  a  Roman  knight,  is  justly  admired 
Ipbr  the  compass  of  his  learning,  the  liveliness  of  his  ima- 
gination, the  elevation  of  his  thoughts,  and   the    many 
excellent  lessons  of  moral  virtue,  which  are  delivered  in 
his  works.     His  great  abstemiousness   and   some  other 
virtues  are  justly  commended.      But  if  we  inquire   into 

Mis  conduct,  we  shall  find  his  virtue  tainted  with  pride,  and 
ven  fall  short  of  that  of  a  moral  Heathen.      His  im- 
mense  riches,  his    stately   palace    and    villas,  his   most 
(piimptuous  furniture,  in  which  himself  counts  five  hun- 
dred tables  of  cedar,  supported  by  ivory  feet,  all  alike, 
jewels  above  price,  with  every  other  most  costly  thing, 
■^ery  ill  suited  with  his  stoic  philosophy.     Much  less  ex- 
■^usable  were  the    excessive   usuries,  with  which  he  op- 
pressed and  pillaged  great  part  not  only  of  Italy,  but  also 
I  of  Britain  :  his  complaisance  also  to  Nero,  on  many  un- 
Irarrantable  occasions  ;  his  flattery  after  the  poisoning  of 
pritannicus,  his   acceptance   of  his  palace  and  gardens 
fifter  his  unjust  death,  &c.      To  his  last  breath  he  wa^ 
an  enthusiastic  advocate  for  suicide  ;  took  hemlock  after 
his  veins  were  opened,  and  when  the  poison  did  not  ope- 
rate, would  be  removed  into  a  hot  bath  to  accelerate  his 
own  death.     When  Socrates  was  accused  of  denying  the 
Gods,  which   the   public  adored,  he  vindicated  himself 


44  filStORY   OF    tllE 

from  it  as  from  a  cnme  ;  and  when  he  was  upon  the  poiri£ 
of  expiring,  he  ordered  a  cock  to  he  sacrificed  to  j^iscir- 
lapius.     Plato,  his  disciple,  whasaw  all  Greece'  filled  with 
this  absurd  and  scandalous  worship,  durst  not  oppose  the 
public  error^     It  was  from  him  the  Stoics  derived  their 
proud   maxim  :   The  ivise  man  is  self-sufficient.     Cicero 
patronized  revenge,  though  nolhing  is  so  heroic  as  for  a 
man  to  forgive  an  injury,  to  vanquish  hi-s  passions,  and 
iearn  to  govern  his  own  souL     The  least  exertion  of  pa- 
tience, meekness,  humility,  of  charity,  is  something  much 
greater  and  more  adv^itageous  than  the  conquest  of  ^n 
empire  would  be.     For  Alexander  once  to  have  curbed 
his  anger,  on  ever  so  small  an  occasion,  would  have  been 
a  far  more  glorious  victory  than  all  his  conquests,  even 
if  his  wars  had  been  just.     Pythagorus  and  Zeno  aflfect-' 
ed  tyranny,  and  Epictetus  allowed  a  man  to  be  proud  or 
the  conquest  of  any  vice.     Aristotle  could   not  sit  easy, 
until  he  pfoudly  made  his  friend  Hermias  sit  below  him  ; 
and  he  w  as  as  gross  a  flatterer  of  Alexander  for  the  sake 
of  vanity,  as  Plato  was  of  Dionysius  for  the  sake  of  his 
belly.     Diogenes  could  not  be  contented  in  his  tub  with- 
out gratifying  his  passions  ;  and  when  with  his  dirty  feet 
he  trod  upon  Plato's  costly  carpetsy  crying  that  he  tram- 
pled upon  the  prkle  of'  Plato,  he  did  this,  as  Plato  an- 
swered him,  with  greater  pride.     But  among  all  the  im- 
pious, absurd,  and  false  maxims  of  the   Pagan,  Greek, 
and  Roman   philosophers,  scarce  any  thing  was   more 
monstrous  than  the  manner  in  which  they  canonized  sui- 
cide, in  distress,  as  a  remedy  against  temporal  miseries, 
and  a  point  of  heroism.     It  is  strange,  that  any  people 
should  by  false  prejudices  be  able  so  far  to  extinguish  the 
most  evident  principles  of  reason,  andthe  voic6  of  nature,- 
as  to  deem  suicide  an  action  of  eoiiTage,  since  it  springs 
from  a  total  want  of  that  heroic  virtue,  and  implies  the 
utmost  excess  of  pusillanimity,  impatience,  and  cowardice. 
To  bear  all  kind  of  suflferings  with  unshaken  constancy 
and  virtue,  is  true  courage  and  greatness  of  soul,  and  iht 
test  and  triumph  of  virtue  :  and  to-  sink  under  misfor- 
tunes, is  the  most  unworthy  baseness  of  soul.     Nothing 
can  ever  make  it  lawful  for  any  one  directly  to  procurey 
concur  to,  or  hasten  his  own  death-.     Whoever  delibe- 
X^ately  lays  violent    hands    upon    himself,  is  guilty  of  a 
Keinous  injury  against  God,  the  Lord  of  his  life  :  against 


Church  op  christ.    ^^^^^^^^45 

the  commonwealth,  which   he   robs   of  a  member,  and 

I  gainst  himself,  by  destroying  his  corporal  life,  and  en- 
iling  everlasting  damnation  on  his  soul  ;  this  crime 
ling  usually  connected  with  final  impenitence,  and  eter- 
l1  enmity  with  God.  To  murder  another  is  the  greatest 
temporal  injustice  a  man  can  commit  against  a  neigh- 
bour, life  being  of  all  temporal  blessings  the  greatest 
Ivid  the  most  noble.  Suiciue  of  course  is  a  crime  so 
much  more  enormous,  as  the  charity,  which  every  one 
owes  to  himself,  especially  to  bis  immortal  soul,  which 
is  here  destroyed  with  the  body,  is  stricter,  more  noble, 
and  of  a  superior  order  to  that  which  he  owes  to  his 
neighbour.  Away  then  with  the  prejudices  of  Seneca, 
and  the  false  philosophy  of  LycuVgus,  who  put  himself  to 
death,  because  his  pride  was  unsfcle  to  bear  the  thought 
of  the  Lacedemonians  correcting  the  severity  of  his  laws. 
Gross  errors,  and  impious  maxims  of  this  sort,  are  dis- 
coverable in  the  doctrine  and  conduct  of  all  the  other 
boasted  philosophers  of  Paganism,  which  plainly  shows 
the  incompetence  of  reason  alone  for  our  direction  in 
our  present  corrupted  state,  and  that  without  religion 
there  is  no  true  wisdom.  Of  Human  philosophy  in  these 
matters  a  very  wise  man  said  :  /  have  tried  all  (hinqs  in 
wisdom.  I  have  saidy  I  will  he  iviu^  and  it  departed  further 
from  me.  Eccles.  7.  24.  We  ave  therefore  obliged  to 
acknowledge  not  only  the  incomparable  advantages,  but 
also  the  absolute  necessity  of  divine  revelation. 

God  is  the  sovereign  reason  who  caamot  err.  His 
word  is  a  flambeau  that  guides  our  steps  and  directs  our 
ways.  The  religion  he  has  revealed  hoih  enlightens  the 
I  mind  and  regulates  the  affections  and  appetites  of  the 
heart.  The  holy  maxims  which  he  has  laid  down  in  the 
gospel,  concerning  vice  and  virtue,  i.ifinitely  excel  in 
purity  and  perfection  all  the  most  admired  lessons  of  phi- 
losophy. Their  subserviency  to  each  other,  and  the 
tendency  of  them  all  together  to  the  common  end  of  re- 
ligion, are  such  as  visibly  exceed  all  human  invention, 
aad  argue  Christianity  to  be  the  product  of  a  divine 
mind,  and  the  work  of  an  Infinite  Being.  There  is  no 
crime,  no  vice,  no  sin,  even  in  thought,  but  it  detects,  de- 
tests, and  prohibits  ;  no  virtue,  no  perfection,  no  good  work 
but  it  promotes,  prescribes,  and  excites  us  to.  The  small- 
est stain  cannot  be  showxi  in  it.     The  least  flaw,  the  least 


46  msTonv  OP  TAB 

contradiction  can  never  be  found  in  it.  Every  article  of 
it  is  conducive  to  true  holiness.  How  admirable  is  the 
harmony  of  the  awful  mysteries  which  it  teaches  !  How 
adorable  is  the  light  of  its  important  and  sublime  truths  ! 
How  pure  the  morality  q(  its  precepts  !  What  power- 
ful means  of  grace  and  helps  of  sanctification  does  it  not 
furnish  !  What  cogent  motives  of  divine  love  !  W^hat 
strong  incentives  to  glorify  God  by  the  tender  of  our 
sacrifices  and  affections  !  How  nobly  does  it  display  be- 
fore our  eyes  the  goodness  and  mercy  of  God  in  the 
work  of  our  redemption  f  Here  the  Divine  truth  and  wis- 
dom shine  forth  with  the  most  ravishing  lustre  in  a  manner 
worthy  a  God.  Here  we  behold  in  raptures  of  asto- 
nishment the  unparalleled  charity  of  our  blessed  Re- 
deemer, the  dreadful  enormity  of  sin,  and  our  own  hap- 
py deliverance  from  the  powers  of  Hell.  Here  our  con- 
science is  awakened  and  roused  by  the  faith  of  a  future 
judgment,  by  the  hope  of  an  assured  resurrection  from 
the  dead,  by  a  clear  revelation  of  unspeakable  rewards 
prepared  for  the  just,  aad  by  the  fear  of  endless  tor- 
ments reserved  for  the  punishment  of  the  reprobate  in 
the  world  to  come.  In  consideration  of  all  these  great 
truths,  St.  Paul  calls  t^e  Gospel  of  Christ  tihe  jwiver  of 
God  unto  salvation  to  erwt^  one  that  bdieveth.    Rom.  1.  16. 


CHAPTER  VL 

The  means  esttUished   h\j  the  Apostles  for  preserving  the 
Chnslian  religion  in  its  primitive  purity. 

EVEN  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles  there  appeared 
false  prophets,  lying  teachers,  scoffers,  and  sectaries, 
"whose  errors  chiefly  sprung  from  the  Pagan  principles  of 
the  Platonic  phibsophy,  and  from  a  wrong  sense  ant 
meaning,  which  they  took  out  of  the  sacred  Scriptures, 
by  interpreting  i(  accoi*ding  to  their  own  wild  imagina* 
tions.  The  Scripture  itself  affirms  in  express  terms,  tha 
svLch  false  teachers  would  arise  up  among  the  faithful,  am 
hnng  in  sects  of  perdiiion,  2  Pet.  2.  having  an  appearand 
of  godliness,  but  speaking  lies  in  htjpocrisy,  resisting  tin 
'irvihj  departing  from  the  faith  j  aiid  having  their  comcienc& 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  ^^^  47 

$earcd.  1  and  2  Tim.  ."3  and  4  c.  It  also  assures  us  that 
in  Hie  Epistles  of  Si.  Paul  there  are  some  things  hard  to  be 
vmlcrstoody  which  the  unlearned  and  the  unstable  wrested^  as 
they  did  also  the  other  Sctiptures,  to  their  own  destruction.  2 
Pet.  3.  18.  The  Apostles,  foreseeing  what  was  to  hap- 
pen, and  solicitous  to  preserve  the  deposit  of  faith  intrust- 
ed to  them,  pure  and  inviolate  throughout  all  future  ages, 
look  particular  care  to  warn  the  faithful  against  such 
teachers,  and  to  exhort  them  to  stick  close  to  the  doc- 
trine which  they  had  delivered  to  them,  and  to  teach  the 
•same  inviolate  to  their  posterity.  1  and  2  Tim.  They 
iStrictly  charged  their  successors  in  office,  as  well  as  the 
flock  committed  to  their  instruction,  to  avoid  and  shun 
all  the  broachers  of  profane  novelties,  whose  speech 
«preadeth  like  a  canker.  They  commanded  them  to  con- 
tend earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints, 
to  adhere  firmly  to  the  sound  doctrine  they  had  received 
from  the  beginning,  and  to  defend  it  zealously  against  all 
seducers,  blasphemers,  and  gainsayers,  who  subvert  whole 
houses,  teaching  things  which  they  ought  not,  for  filthy 
lucre's  sake.  They  ordered  them  not  to  add,  diminish, 
alter,  corrupt  or  deviate  one  single  iota  from  the  faith, 
though  an  Angel  from  Heaven  should  teach  and  preach 
up  a  contrary  doctrine  ;  because  an  error,  though  in  one 
point,  in  one  single  article,  is  a  removing  from  the  grace — 
and  perverting  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Gal.  1.6,  7,8.  In 
short,  the  Apostles  laid  it  down  as  an  invariable  rule,  to 
be  carefully  observed  in  every  succeeding  generation, 
that  the  least  change  or  alteration  should  never  be  made 
in  the  doctrine  of  faith,  but  that  the  self-same  revealed 
truths,  which  were  believed  and  taught  by  them  in  the  first 
age  of  the  Church,  should  be  carefully  handed  down  to  pos- 
t<irity,  entire  and  uncorrupted.  This  principle  they  esta- 
i  blished  as  a  fence  and  barrier  for  the  continual  preserva- 
tion of  the  true  faith,  and  as  a  most  effectual  means  to  coni- 
vey  it  to  every  succeeding  generation,  without  the  small- 
est addition,  diminution,  or  deviation.  Hence  St.  Paul,  2 
Thess.  11.14.  says  :  Stand fast^my  brethren^and  hold  thetra' 
diti-yns  fhich  ye  have  learned,  whether  by  word  or  by  my  epis- 
f  tic.  It  was  for  this  reason  that,  when  some  false  brethren 
'>  in  St.  PriiiPs  absence  had  persuaded  the  Galatians  that  it 
was  necessary  to  join  circumcision  with  the  gospel,  the 
Apostle  wrote  to  them  on  purpose  to  correct  this  delusion, 


48  HISTORY    OF    THE 

and  to  prevent  them  from  innovating,  altering,  or  adulte- 
rating the  doctrine  of  faith.  He  likewise  iiT>dertook  a 
journey  to  Jerusalem  for  the  purpose  of  confeirirg  and 
deliberating  with  the  Apostles,  priests,  and  elders  of  the 
Church  about  this  question,  which  began  to  be  contro- 
verted with  a  degree  of  warmth  in  the  city  of  Antioch, 
where  many,  who  had  been  converted  from  Judaism,  and 
who  were  still  strongly  attached  to  the  law  of  Moses, 
raised  violent  disputes,  and  insisted  that  such  of  the 
<jrenUles  as  were  converted  from  Paganism  to  Christian- 
ity, could  not  be  saved  unless  they  were  circumcised  and 
observed  the  other  ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic  law.  On 
this  occasion  a  council  of  the  Apostles  and  Elders  of  the 
Churci  was  assembled  at  Jerusalem  in  the  year  51.  St. 
Clement  of  Alexandria  assures  us  that  all  the  Apostles 
were  present  at  this  council.  St  Luke  only  mentions  St. 
Peter  and  St.  James,  with  St.  Paul  and  St.  Barnabas,  who 
also  assisted  thereat,  and  recounted  the  progress  which 
they  had  made  by  their  preaching  among  the  Gentiles. 
St.  Peter  presided  in  this  assembly,  and  having  maturely 
considered  and  discussed  the  matter  in  debate,  he  made 
a  di.scourse  to  show  that  the  obligation  of  the  Jewish 
ceremonies  was  not  to  be  laid  on  the  Gentile  converts  ; 
for  the  ceremonial  precepts  and  rites  being  all  types,  that 
pointed  out'  the  Redeemer  to  come,  were  to  cease  when 
they  were  a'lcomplished  by  the  new  law^  of  the  Gospel, 
As  figures  and  shadov/s  they  were  banished,  and  gave 
plac"  to  the  reality  and  substance.  St.  Peter  having  first 
pronounced  sentence,  his  determination  was  second- 
ed by  St.  James,  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  who  proved 
by  the  testimonies  of  the  Prophets,  that  the  observance 
of  the  |e5;al  ceremonies  was  no  longer  necessary,  and  that 
the  Gentiles  ongbt  not  to  he  subjected  to  the  burden  and 
servitiide  of  the  Mosaic  law.  The  doctrine  of  St.  Peter, 
supported  thus  by  the  local  Pastor  of  Jerusalem,  was  by 
the  Council  formed  into  a  decree,  which  began  with  these 
words  :  It  has  seamed  scood  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  ns,  &c, 
tp  signify  that  the  Holy  Ghost  exphcates  himself,  and 
speaks  to  the  faithful  by  the  Pastors  of  the  Church,  as 
bis  or<?:ans,  and  the  depositories  of  his  revealed  truths  ; 
and  cr\<-'-  o  f>i>flv,  that  their  decisions  and  decrees  in  these 
ma^^'e-  .  ,  >  be  ronsidered  as  dictated  by  him.  These 
were  the  means  established  and  practised  by  the  Apostles 


CHL-RCH  OP  cimist.  49 

m  the  first  century,  for  preventing  innovations  and 
schisms  amongst  the  faithful,  and  for  settling  and  finally- 
deciding  this  first  controversy  about  rehgion.  And  these 
likewise  are  the  means  to  which  the  pastors  of  the  Church 

II   succeeding  ages  have    had  recourse,  after   the    ex- 
mple  of  the  Apostles,  in  order  to  preserve  the  faith  in 
;s  primitive  purity,  and  to  settle  disputes,  whenever  any 
ogmatical  point  of  received  doctrine  happened  to   be 
npug)ied,  controverted,  or  called  in  question.     Either 
eneral,   national,  provincial,  or  diocesan    councils    and 
'    synods  have  been  held,  for  the  purpose  of  settling  and 
determining  all  such  disputes  and    differences    as  arose 
about  religious  matters,  or  for  making  regulation  in  disci- 
pline  and  morals.     And  really,  as  Christ  our  Lord  de- 
clared  it  necessary  that  heresies    and    scandals    should 
arise,  it  was  also  necessary  that  his  Church  should  be 
provided  with   a  remedy  against  them,  and  have    some 
effectual  means  to  recur  to,  in  order  to  separate  the  tares 
from  the  good  grain,  and  retrench  scandals  and  abuses, 
M'henever  they  occur. 
■K    The  chief  errors  that  were  broached  in  the  apostolic 
"ge,  were  those  of  Simon  the  Magician,  Cerinthus,  Me- 
jiander,  EbiOn,  Saturmnus,Basilides,  and  the  Nicolaits,  so 
called  from  Nicholas,    oae  of  the  Seven  Deacons.     In 
process  of  time  an  almost  incredible  number  of  Gnostics 
5Lnd  other  sectaries  started  up,  began  to  dogmatize,  and 
attempted  to  subvert  the  faith.     They  adopted  the  gross- 
est absurdities  and  the  most  impious   tenets  ;  but    their 
errors  created  horror,  and  at  their  first  appearance  were 
'  immediately  condemned  and  refuted  by  the   pastors  of 
the  Church  in  their  respective  sees,  when  they  could  ntrt 
freely  and  publicly  assemble  in  council,  on  account  of 
the  violent  persecutions   of  the  Paj^an  emperors.     The 
Gnostics  were  a  sect,  that  boasted  of  extraordinary  light 
and   knowledge    of  unknown   mysteries,  particularly  in 
composing  combinations  and  genealogies  of  aeons,  or  at- 
tributes and  operations  of  the  Deity.     Their   principles 
were  detestable,  and  led  them  to  all  kinds  of  libertinism 
and  abominable  practices.     The  errors  of  the  Nicolaits 
rather  regarded  manners  than  faith  ;  for  which  reason  St. 

I  Clement  of  Alexandria  reproaches  them  only  for  their 
immoralities  and  debaucheries.  Caius,  a  priest  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  St.  Denis,  of  Alexandria,  repre- 


60  HISTORY   OF   THE 

liend  the  Cerlnthians  for  teaching,  among  many  other 
errors,  that  the  reign  of  Jesus  Christ  would  be  terrestrial, 
and  that  it  would  consist  in  carnal  delights,  sensual  plea- 
sures, feasts,  and  continual  sacrifices  for  the  space  of  a 
thousand  years  before  the  day  of  judgment.  This  opinion 
is  called  the  Millenarian  system.  It  never  was  a  doc- 
trine of  faith,  nor  proposed  by  the  Church  to  be  be- 
lieved as  such,  although  some  few  of  the  Fathers  admit- 
ted a  Millenarian  reign  of  Christ  on  earth,  in  spiritual 
pleasures  with  his  e'cct.  They  were  herein  misled  by 
Papias,  a  disciple  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  who  being 
a  man  of  a  very  moderate  understanding,  as  Eusebius 
says,  for  want  of  comprehending  what  he  heard  from  the 
Apostles,  took  literally  what  was  said  in  a  mystical  sense. 
But  this  point  was  afterwards  cleared  up,  and  the  mistake 
was  corrected  by  consulting  the  tradition  of  the  whole 
Church.  The  system  of  the  Millenarians,  says  Calmet,  owes 
its  origin  to  the  Jews,  who  expected  to  reign  a  thousand 
years  with  the  Messiah  on  earth.  Some  of  the  ancients 
also  inferred  this  erroneous  opinion  from  a  passage  of" 
the  Apocalypse  and  Isaiah  misunderstood  ;  but,  instead 
of,  having  any  foundation  in  the  sacred  text,  it  is  refuted 
by  it,  and  has  been  long  exploded,  as  contrary  to  the 
Gospel,  and  to  the  doctrine  of  St.  Paul. 

As  to  the  errors  of  Simon  the  Magician,  they  chiefly 
sprung  from  the  system  of  the  Platonists,  and  gave'  rise 
to  most  of  the  heresies  of  the  first  ages,  Simon,  that  bane 
of  mankind,  as  Eusebius  calls  him,  being  expelled  from 
the  East  by  St.  Peter,  repaired  to  the  city  of  Rome,  with 
his.  favourite  Helena,  and  imposed  on  the  people  there 
by  his  sorceries.  The  Infernal  Spirit  was  permitted  to 
oppose  these  illusions  and  artifices  to  the  true  miracles 
of  Jesus  Christ,  he  was  suffered  in  Egypt  to  assist  the 
madcians  of  Pharaoh  ag-ainst  Moses.  It  is  from  this 
Simon  that  the  crime  of  selling  any  spiritual  thmg  for  a 
temporal  price  is  called  Simony ;  and  to  maintain  that 
practice  lawful,  is  usually  termed  in  the  canon  law,  the 
heresy  of  Simon  Magus.  He  strove  in  all  things  to  rival 
Christ.  He  pretended  to  be  the  Messiah,  and  often 
called  himself  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  name  he  also  gave 
sometimes  to  the  concubine  Helena,  whom  he  had  pur- 
chased at  Tyre,  and  to  whom  he  desired  divine  honours 
to  be  paid  under  the  figure  of  Minerva.     He  had  man^ 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

Followers  in  Rome,  and  at  length  gained  so  high  a  reputa- 
IKtion,  that  a  statae  was  erected  to  him  in  the  isle  of  Tiber, 
l^k^rith  this  inscription  :  Siinoni  Deo  Sancto.  St.  Justin 
'^Martyr,  who  was  a  person  of  great  learning  and  gravity, 

I  and  of  a  genius  wonderfully  inquisitive  about  matters  of 
this  nature,  and  well  acquainted  with  all  the  mythology 
iof  the  Heathens,  assures  us  hereof,  in  his  Apology  ad- 
dressed to  the  emperor,  to  the  seliate,  and  to  all  the  peo- 
|K)le  of  Rome,  whom  he  pressed  to  demolish  this  statue, 
^^^t.  Justin  lived  then  in  Rome,  and  repeats  this  twice  ia 

IhIus  great  Apology,  and  in  his  Dialogue  with  Trypho,  the 
^philosopher,  which   he  would  never  have   had   the    as- 
surance to  do,  were  it  not  a  real  fact,  as  the  Pleathens 
could  not  fail  to  take  notice  of,  and  resent  such  a  blunder, 
l^and  turn  it  to  the  scorn  of  the  apologist  and  his  religion, 
■  which  they  never  did.     TertuUian,  Eusebius,  Theodoret, 
I^Si.  Cyril,  and  St.  Augustine    say,  that  this    statue   was 
'"erected  to  Simon  by  the  public  authority  of  the    senate 
and  the  emperor  Claudius,  who  succeeded  that  barbarous 
tyrant  Caius  Caligula,  who  wished  the  Roman  people  had 
but  one  neck,  that  he  might  cut  it  off  at  one  stroke.     It 
was  under  Claudius  that  Great  Britain  was  reduced  to 
the  form  of  a  Roman  province.     His  mother  Antonia, 
when  she  met  with  any  very  silly  fellow,  was  accustomed 
to  say  : .  He  is  as  great  a  fool  as  my  son  Claudius.      His 
first  wife-Messalina  was  capable  of  persuading  him  to 
ny  thing  she  pleased,  a  greater  idiot  having  never  worn 
the  imperial  purple,  being  therefore  called  a  child  with 
rey  hairs.     His  second  wife,  Agrippina,  pushed  him  on 
o    many  extravagancies,    and  prevailed  on  him  to  adopt 
ero,  who  was  her  son  by  Domitius,  her  first  husband, 
nd  who,  in  the  year  51,  ascended  the  imperial  throne 
"lifter  the  death  of  Claudius,  who  was  poisoned  by  Agrip- 
pina.    The  young  prince  governed  five  years  with  great 
clemency,  leaving  the  dii'ection  of  all  things  to  his  master 

t>eneca,  the  philosopher,  and  to  Eurrhus,  the  prefect  of 
he  praetorian  cohorts,  except  that  he  poisoned  his  bro- 
her  Britannicus,  the  son  of  Claudius,  by  Messalina,  whilst 
hey  were  supping  together. — In  the  year  53,  he  killed 
his  own  mother,  Agrippina,  and  from  that  time  he  be- 
came the  greatest  monster  of  cruelty  and  vice,  that  per- 
haps ever  disgraced  the  human  species.  Simon  Magus 
found  means  to  ingratiate  himself  with  this  tyrant,  and  by 


IKgii 


^  HISTORY    OF   TttE 

his  vain  boastings  and  illusions  c{>u]d  not  fail  io  please 
him,  as  Nero  was  above  all  mortals  infatuated  with  the 
detestable  superstitions   of  the  deceitful  art  of  ma'gic,  to 
the   last  degree  of  folly  and  extravagance,     Simon  the 
magician    called  himself  the  Gh-eat   Power  of  God,  and 
promised  the  Emperor,  that  he  would  fly  in  the  air,  thus 
pretending  to  imitate  the  ascension   of  Christ.     Accord- 
ingly by  his  magical  power,  and  by  the  aid  of 'two  daemons, 
he  was  carried  up  into  the  air  in  a  chariot  of  fire,  in  the 
presence  of  Nero.     But  the  most  merciful  and  kind  Pro- 
vidence, says  Eusebius,  conducted  to  Rome  Peter,  the 
most  courageous  among  the  Apostles,  in  order  to  defeat 
the  impostures  of  Simon  Magus  :  for  this  great  Apostle, 
in  conjunction  with  St.  Paul,  seeing  the  delusion,  betook 
themselves  to  their  prayers,  upon  which  the  noted  impos-- 
tor  fell  to  the  ground,  was  bruised,  broke  a  leg,  and  died 
a  few   days  after  in  rage  and  confusion.     This  wonder- 
ful event,  though  disbelieved  by  some  moderns,  is  related 
by  St.  Justin,   St.  Ambrose,  St.  Cyril   of  Jerusalem,  St, 
Augustine,  St.  Philastrius,  St.  Isidore  of  Pelusiura,  TheO- 
doret,  and  others, — Dion  Chrysostomus,  a  Heathen  wri- 
ter, assures  us,  that  Nero  kept  a  long  time  i»  his  court  a 
certain  magician,  w^ho  promised  to  fly  ;  and  vSuetonius 
says,  that  at  the  public  games  a  man  undertook  to  fly  in 
the  presence  of  Nero  ;  but  fell  in  his  first  essay,  and  his 
blood   even  stained  the  balcony  in  which    the    emperor 
stood.     Some  historians  say,  the  resentment  of  the  ty- 
rant against  the  Apostles  was  much  inflamed  by  the  mis- 
fortune   of   Simon   Magus,    and  by  the    conversion    of 
several  persons  of  his  household,  who  embraced  the  faith, 
particularly  his  beloved   concubine   and  cup-bearer.     St, 
Ambrose  tells  us,  Serm.68.  that  the  Christians  entreated 
St.  Peter  to  withdraw  for  a  while,  and  that  yielding   to 
their  importunity,  he  made    his    escape    by  night  ;  but 
going  out  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  he  met  Jesus  Christ,  or 
what  in  a  vision  appeared  in  his  form,  and  asked  him, 
'  Lord^  whither  art  thou  going  ?     Christ    answered,  /  am 
^oing   to  Home  to  be  crucified  again.      St.  Peter  readily 
vmderstood  this  vision  to  be  meant  of  himself,  and  taking 
it  for  a  reproof  of  his  cowardice,  and  a  token  that  it  was 
the  will  of  God  he  should  sufler,  and  follow  Christ,  even 
to  the  death  of  the  cross,  as  Christ  had  foretold  him  after 
his  resurrection,  returned   into  Rome,  and  being  taker^ 


'ch:jrch  of  CHRisi'.  ^Hr        S3 

as  confined  in  the  Mamertine  prison  with  St.  Paul.  The 
two  Apostles  are  said  to  have  remained  there  eight 
months,  during  which  time  they  converted  and  baptized 
Processus  and  Martinian,  the  captains  of  their  guards^ 

ith  forty  seven  others. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

All  the  Apostles  crowned  with  martyrdom. 

SUCH  was  the  oeconomy,  such  was  the  unfathomable 
wisdom  of  God,  that  he  was  pleased  to  permit  his  ser- 
vants, and  new  acquired  people,  to  be  subjected,  during 
the  three  first  centuries  of  the  Church,  to.  the  most 
rigorous  trials,  and  their  fidelity  to  be  put  to  the  strictest 
test,  by  ten  bloody  persecutions.  Not  only  the  first 
preachers  of  Christianity  were  persecuted,  but  also  their 
disciples  and  followers,  who  adhered  to  their  doctrine. 
Whole  cities  rose  up  against  them  ;  entire  nations  were 
leagued  to  destroy  them :  philosophers  opposed  argu- 
ment ;  Libertines  opposed  sensuality  ;  Pagan  Emperors 
opposed  torments.  MiUions  of  martyrs  sealed  their  faith 
\^h  tKe  effusion  of  their  blood,  and  laid  down  their  lives 
with  joy  under  these  persecutions,  in  testimony  of  the 
Gospel.  They  endured  the  sharpest  trials,  and  the  most 
barbarous  cruelties  that  tyranny  could  invent  or  inflict, 
with  the  meekness  of  lambs,  and  the  simplicity  of  doves  ; 
and  they  gloriously  surmounted  every  opposition,  though 
the  only  weapoms  with  which  they  encountered  the  malice 
«of  their  enemies,  w^re  patience,  forbearance,  humility, 
and  prayer.  Divine  Providence  conducted  them  through 
the  fiery  crucible  with  such  courage  and  intrepidity,  that 
they  demonstrated  their  creed  by  the  constancy  of  their 
invincible  valour  ;  and  bore  death  itself,  in  its  most 
dreadful  shapes,  with  an  amazing  calmness  of  mind,  re- 
collecting what  Christ  hud  said  in  his  first  sermon  on  the 
Mount  :  Blessed  are  ye.,  when  they  shall  revile  yon  and  perse- 
xute  you  ;  be  glad  and  rejoice,  for  your  reward  is  very  great 
in  Heaven. 

Thus  it  appeared  visibly  that  God  was  the  immediate 

«upporter  and  defender  of  his  Church,  for  though  it  lost 

in  its  infancy  some  of  its  main  pillars,  and  was  deprived 

of  such  a  vast  number  of  its  pastors  and  members^  it  re- 

E2 


54  HISTORY  OP  ritfi 

mained  no  less  firm  than  before,  and  even  grew  and 
gathered  strength  from  the  most  violent  persecutions. 
King  Agrippa,  who  had  been  brought  up  at  Rome  in  the 
feign  of  that  cruel  tyrant  Tiberius,  called  by  his  own 
preceptor  Theodorus  Gadareu?,  a  lamp  of  flesh  steeped 
in  blood,  was  the  first  prince  that  persecuted  the  Church. 
The  first  of  the  Apostles  who  fell  a  victim  under  him  was 
St.  James  the  Greater,  whom  he  caused  to  be  beheaded 
in  the  year  43  at  Jerusalem,  whither  he  was  returned 
after  having  preached  the  gospel,  with  great  success,  not 
only  to  the  twelve  tribes  of  the  Jews  in  their  dispersion 
over  the  world,  but  also  to  the  inhabitants  of  Spain,  ac- 
cording to  the  constant  tradition  of  that  Church.  St. 
James  the  Lesser,  who  was  called  The  Just  Mem,  by  the 
very  Jews,  on  account  of  his  austere  life  and  eminent 
sanctity,  and  who  had  been  constituted  Bishop  of  Jerusa- 
lem by  the  Apostles  before  their  dispersion,  was  thrown 
headlong  from  the  battlements  of  the  Temple,  received 
below  with  a  shower  of  stones  by  the  populace,  and  kill- 
ed with  a  blow  of  a  fuller's  club  on  the  head,  in  the 
year  62,  because  he  had,  in  the  most  solemn  and  public 
manner,  declared  that  Jesus  was  seated  at  th^  right 
hand  of  the  Sovereign  Majesty,  and  would  come  in  the 
clouds  of  Heaven  to  judge  the  world.  Eusebius,  1.  7.  c. 
19.  relates  that  the  Episcopal  chair  of  St.  James  was 
preserved  with  great  veneration  by  the  Christians,  of 
Jerusalem,  till  the  fourth  century.  St.  Andrew  was 
crucified  at  Patrae,  inAehaia.  It  is  the  common  opinion, 
that  his  cross  was  in  the  form  of  the  letter  X,  coinposed 
of  two  pieces  of  timber,  crossing  each  other  obliquely  in 
the  middle.  When  he  saw  his  cross  at  a  distance,  he  is 
said  to  have  cried  out,  *'Hail,  precious  cross  !  thou  hast 
"  been  consecrated  by  the  body  of  my  Lord,  and  adorned 
**  with  his  limbs,  as  with  rich  jewels — I  come  to  thee 
"  exulting  Avith  joy  ;  .receive  me  into  thy  arms,  and  pre- 
'*  sent  me  to  my  master."  St.  Thomas  suffered  martyr- 
dom at  Calamina,  or  Meliapor,  in  the  peninsula  on  this 
side  the  Ganges,  on  the  coast  of  Coromandel,  where  his 
body  was  discovered,  with  certain  marks  that  he  was  slain 
with  lances  ;  it  was  carried  to  the  city  of  Edessa,  where 
it  was  honoured  with  great  veneration,  when  St.  Chry- 
sostom,  Rusin,  Socrates,  Sozomen,  and  St.  Gregory  of. 
Tours  wrote.     St.  Philip  the  Apostle  is  said  to  have  been 


feruclfie^  at  Hierapolis,  in  Phrygia.     Some  writers  have 
^^onfounded  his  death  with  that  of  St.  Philip  the  Deacon, 
^■v^hose  four  daughters  were  virgins  and  prophetesses,  Acts 
^Ri.  9.  and  who  probably  died  at  Ciesarea.     St.  Bartholo- 
mew, wh6  is  believed  by  several  learned  writers  to  have 
been  the  same  person  with  Nathaniel,  after  preaching  in 
■■India  and  Persia,  was  flayed  alive,  and  then  crucified  at 
l^^lbanus,  in  Great  Armenia.     St.  Matthew,  ^s  Venantius 
'^Tortunatus   relates,  suffered  martyrdom   at  Nadabar,  a 
city  in  Parthia,  after  pi-eaching  to  the  ^Ethiopians,  Per- 
sians, and  Medes.     St.  Simon  is  said  to  have  been  cruci- 
iBEed  in  Persia,  at  the  instigation  of  some  idolatrous  priests. 
Upt.  Jude,  surnamed   Thaddcfcus,  to  distinguish   him  from 
the  Ischariot,  is  said  to  have  been  tied  on  a  cross  aTid 
shot  to  death  with  arrows,  at  Ararat  in  Armenia,  then 
subject  to    the   Parthian   empire,  and   consequently  es- 
__teemed  part  of  Persia.     Those  who  say  he  died  atBery-^ 
IBfUs,  in  Phoenicia,  confound  him  with  Thaddasus,  one  of 
iB^he  sev'enty-two  Disciples,  who  was  sent  to  St.  Thomas 
to  Edessa,  where  King  Abgar  and  a  great  number  of  his 
people  are  said  to  have  received  baptism  at  his  hands. 

Kt  was  this  disciple  that  founded  the  Churches  of  Seleucia 
md  Ctesiphon,  the   two  capital  cities   of  Assyria.     St. 
vlatthias,  who,  from  being  one  of  the  seventy-two  Disci- 
ples was  chosen,  in  the  room  of  Judas,  a  twelfth  Apostle, 
is  said  to  have  received  the  crown  of  Martyrdom  in  Col- 
.  chis,  where  he  was  stoned  by  a  number  of  Savages,  and 
■Bihen  beheaded.     St.  John,  being  brought   to   Rome  by 
■wrder  of  Domitian,  was  cast  into  a  caldron  of  boiling  oil, 
^ut  being  miraculously  preserved,  and  coming  out  more 
vigorous  than  before,  he  was  banished  to  the  islahd  of 
Patmos,  in  the  ^gean  Sea,  or  the  Archipelago,  where 
,     be  wTote  the    admirable    prophecy  of   the  Apocalypse, 
U^vhich  is  regarded  as  a  summary  of  the  history  of  the 
■■Christian  Church,  through  every  age,  from  the  date  of 
its  birth  to  its  triumphant  and  glorious  state   in  Heaven. 
It  is  generally  asserted,  that  when  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul  were  condemned  by  Nero,  they  w  ere  both  scourged 
before  they  were  put  to  death,  as    that  punishment,  ac- 
cording to  the  Roman  laws,  was  always  inflicted  before 
crucifixion.      Eusebius,    St.  Epiphanius,  St.  Prudentiun, 
and   most   WTiters,  aflSrm,  that  they  suffered    both   to- 
gether near  the  Ostian  Gate,  on  the  29th  of  June,  in  the 


SQ  history  of  the 

year  67.  St.  Peter,  when  he  was  come  to  tnc  place  of^ 
execution,  requested  of  the  officers  that  he  might  be  cru- 
cified with  his  head  downwards,  alleging,  that  he  was  not 
worthy  to  suffer  in  the  same  manner  his  divine  Master 
had  died  before  him  :  his  PJaster  looked  towards  Heaven, 
which  by  his  death  he  opened  to  men  ;  wherefore  Peter 
judged,  through  humility,  that  a  sinner,  formed  from  dust, 
and  going  to  return  to  dust,  ought  rather  in  confusion  to 
look  on  the  earth,  as  unworthy  to  raise  his  eyes  to  Hea- 
ven. St.  Paul  undenvent  more  labours,  and  suflered 
more  frequent  imprisonments,  and  more  stripes,  than  any 
of  the  rest  :  he  had  been  five  times  publicly  whipped  by 
the  Jews,  receiving  each  time  thirty-nine  stripes  ;  he  had 
heen  thrice  beaten  with  rods  by  the  Gentiles  ;  had  thrice 
suffered  shipwreck  ;  and  had  been  a  day  and  a  night  in 
the  depth  of  the  sea,  that  is,  in  a  vessel  which  was  so 
long  shattered  and  tossed  amidst  the  waves  ;  at  length 
the  happy  term  of  his  labours  and  sufferings  being  arrived, 
he  beheld  with  joy  the  momeiit  of  his  dissolution,  ili  which 
Christ  called  him  to  his  glory,  and  with  the  most  perfect 
resignation,  submitting  himself  to  the  executioner,  he 
was  beheaded,  his  dignity  of  a  Roman  citizen  not  allow- 
ing him  to  be  crucified.  St.  Gregory  writes,  that  the 
bodies  of  these  two  Apostles  were  buried  in  the  Cata- 
combs, two  miles  from  Rome,  where  now  stands  the 
Church  of  St.  Sebastian,  near  the  Salvian  Waters.  At 
present  the  heads  of  the  two  Apostles  are  deposited  in 
silver  bustos  in  the  Church  of  St.  John  Lateran  ;  but  one 
half  of  the  body,  of  each  Apostle  is  kept  together  in  the 
great  Church  of  St.  Paul,  on  the  Ostian  Road,  and  the 
other  half  of  both  bodies  in  a  stately  vault,  in  the  Vati- 
can church,  which  sacred  place  is  called  IVie  Confes- 
sion of  St.  Peter  and  Limina  Apostolorumy  and  is  resorted 
to  from  all  parts  of  Christendom. 

About  the  same  year  that  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  were 
martyred,  the  civil  wars  began  in  Judea,  by  the  seditions 
of  the  Jews  against  the  Romans.  The  Christians  then 
residing  in  Jerusalem  were  warned  by  Almighty  God  of 
the  impending  destruction,  says  Eusebius,  and  ordered 
to  withdraw  from  that  city,  as  Lot  was  ordered  to 
withdraw  from  Sodom.  Accordingly  they  retired  be- 
yond the  river  Jordan,  with  their  bishop,  St.  .Simeon, 
successor  of  St.  James,  and  remained  in  a  city  called 


^HURCh"^  of    CHRIST.  59 

Pella,  until  after  the  taking  and  burning  of  Jerusa  em, 
when  they  returned  to  settle  themselves  in  the  midst  of 
its  ruins. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

'Ae   destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and   the   dispersion  of  the 

Jewish  Nation. 


was  expedient  that  the  City  of  Jerusalem,  and  the 
temporal  Republic  of  the  Jews,  should  subsist  some  time 
after  the  promulgation  of  the  Gospel,  until  the  spiritual 
kingdom  of  Christ  and  the  new  Church  of  the  Gentiles 
would  be  formed  and  grafted  on  the  ancient  stock  and 
root  of  the  Synagogue  of  the  tnie  Israelites,  as  the 
branches  of  the  wild  olive  are  grafted  upon  the  fruitful 
olive.  Rom.  11.  17.  The  time  at  length  arrived  when 
Jerusalem  and  its  beautiful  Temple  were  to  be  demolish- 
ed, and  the  people  of  that  stubborn  and  ungrateful  na- 
tion was  to  be  involved  in  the  most  dreadful  calamities, 
and  dispersed  all  over  the  earth.  By.  an  unparalleled  in- 
stance of  impiety  they  had  crucified  the  Son  of  God,  and 
uttered  this  horrible  blasphemy,  His  blood  be  upon  us  and 
upon  our  children.  St.  Mat.  27.  25,  The  just  vengeance 
of  Heaven  fell  therefore  upon  their  commonwealth,  and 
a  whole  torrent  of  divine  wrath  was  poured  down  upon 
their  criminal  heads,  .d  also  upon  their  children,  in 
less  than  forty  years  after.  The  Romap  armies  under 
Vespasian  and  Titus  invaded  their  territories,  and  ravaged 
H|[eir  country.  Jerusalem  was  besieged,  taken,  and  razed 
rto  the  ground.  The  Temple  was  set  on  fire  by  a  Roman 
soldier,  and  consumed,  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts 
made  by  Titus  to  extinguish  the  flames.  Previous  to  this 
sad  disaster  many  strange  phenomena  had  been  seen, 
according  to  the  Jewish  Talmud  :  insomuch,  that  a  fa- 
mous Rabbin  cried  out  one  day,  O  Temple  !  Temple  ! 
what  is  it  that  moves  thee,  and  wherefore  dost  thou  make  thy- 
self afraid  1  What  is  more  noted  than  that  dreadful  noise 
that  was  heard  in  the  Sanctuary  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
and  that  audible  voice  which  issued  forth  from  the  in- 
nermost part  of  that  sacred  place  :.  L&t  us  go  hence— Let 


58  HISTORY    OF    THE 

US  go  hence  f  The  Holy  Angels,  Guardians  of  the  Temple, 
loudly  declaring,  that  they  were  forsaking  it  because  God, 
who  had  there  established  his  dwelling  during  so  many 
ages,  had  now  given  it  up  to  reprobation.  Josephus, 
their  historian,  and  Tacitus  himself,  have  both  related 
this  prodigy.  Josephus  also  makes  mention  of  a  prophet 
who  constantly  ran  through  the  public  streets,  crying  out 
with  a  loud  voice,  Wo  to  the  Cihj — Wo  to  the  Temple — 
Wo  to  the  Jews.  Eleven  hundred  thousand  of  them  pe- 
rished on  this  occasion,  partly  by  famine,  partly  by  the 
plague,  and  partly  by  the  sword.  About  fifty  years  after 
the  destruction  of.  Jerusalem  they  revolted  through  the 
whole  Roman  Empire,  under  the  conduct  of  Barchoke- 
bas,  who  boasted  that  he  was  the  promised  Messiah,  and 
called  himself  the  Star  of  Jacob y  foretold  in  the  book  of 
Numbers.  On  this  occasion  six  hundred  thousand  of  the 
Jews  are  said  to  have  been  killed,  and  the  remainder  of 
that  unhappy  people  who  survived,  were  expelled  Judea, 
scattered  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  became  the 
contempt  of  mankind,  and  a  lasting  monument  of  God's 
indignation.  In  this  condition  they  have  now  remained 
upwards  of  seventeen  hundred  years,  without  any  fixed 
abode  or  government,  still  in  expectation  of  the  Messiah, 
though  it  is  evident  that  the  sceptre  has  been  removed 
from  the  tribe  of  Juda,  the  seventy  weeks  of  years  pre- 
dicted by  Daniel  have  been  accomplished,  and  the  time 
and  other  circumstances  foretold  by  the  prophets  for  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah,  is  long  since  elapsed.  They  stili 
persevere  in  the  blindness  and  » bstinacy  of  their  fore- 
fathers, amidst  the  noon-day  light  of  the  Gospel.  How- 
ever, their  obstinacy  affords  Christians  the  advantage  of 
finding  in  unsuspected  hands  the  sacred  Scriptures, 
which  have  foretold  Jesus  Christ  and  his  mvsteries. 
Thus  we  are  g-ainers  bv  their  overthrow,  and  their  infide- 
lity  is  one  of  the  foundations  of  our  faith.  They  leach 
us  to  fear  God,  and  are  a  dreadful  example  of  the  judg- 
ments he  executes  upon  his  ungrateful  children,  that  we 
may  learn  never  to  glory  in  the  favours  shown  to  our 
forefathers.  Sixtus  Senensis,  who  had  been  a  Jew  be- 
fore his  conversion,  informs  us,  that  the  Jews  of  his 
days  had  improved  so  much  upon  the  false  delicacy  of  the 
Jews  in  Christ's  time,  that  they  scrupled  to  take  an  oxi 
out  of  a  pit  on  the  Sabbath,  and  would  only  allow  foodj 


k. 


GHURCII    OV   CHRIST. 


b^ 


io  be  given  the  beast  in  the  water,  till  the  festival  was 
\>er,  when  thej  took  him  out.  Nay,  he  relates,  that  a 
Jew,  who  was  fallen  into  a  ditch  on  the  Sabbath,  refused 
to  suffer  a  Christian,  who  offered  his  help,  to  lift  him  out 
of  the  mire,  saying, 

Sahbata  nostra  colo ; 

De  stercore  surgere  nolo. 
The  Jewish  Sabbath  doth  of  me  require, 
That  I  should  rest  contented  in  this  mire. 

Wherefore,  when  he  implored  the  same  Christian's  as- 
sistance on  the  ensuing  day,  which  was  Sunday,  the  lat- 
ter, to  turn  the  Jew's  superstitious  scrupulosity  against 
hunself,  answered,  that  he  should  keep  the  Christian 
Sabbath  in  the  same  place  : 

Sabbata  nostra  quideniy 

Salomon,  celebrabis  ibidem. 
Christians  on  this  day  their  Sabbath  keep  ; 
ni  leave  you  then,  dear  Jew,  there  still  to  creep. 

Some  of  their  Rabbins  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to 
contend,  that  a  tailor  would  be  guilty  of  breaking  the 
Sabbath  who  should  carry  a  needle  stuck  in  his  sleeve  on 
that  day. 

The  calamities  and  oppressions  the  Jews  have  under- 
gone, would  probably  have  extinguished  any  other  peo- 
ple, but  they  are  still  preserved  by  a  special  Providence 
for  a  future  great  purpose  ;  for  when  the  merciful  dis- 
pensations of  Heaven  to  the  Gentiles  shall  be  completed, 
when  the  Gospel  shall  have  been  fully  preached  to  man- 
kind, and  the  number  of  converts  to  Christianity,  designed 
by  the  Almighty,  shall  be  filled  up,  the  last  posterity  of  the 
Jews  shall  experience  that  bounty  which  has  been  sus- 
pended for  so  many  ages.  By  a  particular  mark  of  pre- 
dilection, they  had  been  chosen  in  former  ages  by  God 
as  his  peculiar  people,  and  adopted  preferably  to  any 
other  nation.  They  shared  his  favours  in  great  abunv 
dance,  and  in  the  most  conspicuous  manner  ;  and  though 
in  their  infidelities  and  gross  deviations  from  their  duty, 
he  used  the  rod  of  correction,  yet  he  always  retained  the 
disposition  of  a  merciful  father  for  them,  and  was  so  far 
from  utterly  exterminating  them,  that  their  race  subsists 


66  HISTORY    OF    THE 

to  this  day,  and  is  still  very  numerous.  Before  the  end 
of  the  world,  says  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  Satan  will  raise 
up  a  man,  who  will  falsely  assume  the  name  of  Christ, 
and  endeavour  to  seduce  them  ;  he  will  allege  the  sacred 
scriptures  to  prove  that  he  is  their  Messiah,  and  the 
Christ,  says  St.  Ambrose  ;  but  the  Lord  will  then  send 
the  Prophets  Elias  and  Henoch  to  oppose  his  efforts,  and 
to  undeceive  and  convince  them  tliat  their  Messiah  is 
that  very  Jesus,  whom  they  have  rejected.  He  will  then 
in  his  mercy  take  from  them  the  heart  of  stone ,  and  give 
them  a  heart  of  flesh  ;  he  will  make  them  sensible  of  their 
past  blindness  and  obstinacy  ;  he  will,  in  fine,  open  their 
eyes  to  acknowledge  Christ  their  Messiah  and  Saviour, 
and  by  making  them  Christians,  he  will  incorporate  them 
in  the  pale  and  bosom  of  his  Church. — Rom.  1 1.  25,  26, 
27.  It  is  thus  that  the  Jews  shall  be  at  length  converted 
to  Christianity,  and  the  remnant  of  Israel  shall  be  saved 
by  believing  in  Jesus  Christ.  Nor  can  any  man  ever  be 
saved,  without  a  supernatural  faith  in  this  Divine  Re- 
deemer :  There  is  no  other  name  under  Heaven  given  toman 
whereby  he  must  be  saved. — Acts  4.  12.  The  saints,  in  the 
old  law,  were  saved  by  the  same  faith  which  we  more 
explicitly  confess.  They  believed  In  Christ  to  come  : 
we  believe  in  him  already  come.  The  words  are  chang- 
ed. Our  Redeemer  will  come,  and,  He  is  come,  as  St. 
Augustine  frequently  observes,  but  the  object  of  this 
faith  is  the  same. 

Our  blessed  Saviour  foresaw,  and  clearly  predicted  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  its  Temple,  and  the  dis- 
persion of  the  Jews,  Luke  21  ;  ^nd  as  it  could  not  possi- 
bly have  been  foreseen  but  by  the  eye  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence alone,  it  served  as  an  evident  proof  of  Revelation, 
that  bore  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  Christian  Religion, 
and  persuaded  great  multitudes,  both  of  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles, to  embrace  it.  Wherefore  Satan,  who  for  many 
ages  had  usurped  almost  an  universal  empire  jin  the 
world,  being  deeply  stung  with  envy  to  see  his  own 
throne  shaken  by  the  progress  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
Christian  Religion  flourishing  more  and  more  every  day, 
resolved  to  stir  up  the  potentates  of  the  earth,  to  give  it 
the  most  violent  opposition,  and  to  do  all  that  men  could 
do  to  extirpate  the  very  name  of  Christianity. 


dttURCH    OF    CHRIST,  61 

CHAPTER  IX. 

7Vie  three  first  gen&ral  Persecutions. 

THE  Christians  liad  already  been  cruelly  persecuted, 
both  by  the  Jews  and  by  the  Gentiles,  but  these  persecu- 
1^    tions  were  not  {>-eneral.     The  monarchy  of  Rome  being 
at  that  time  exceedinj^ly  powerful  and  extensive,  Satan 
1^  chiefly  attempted  to  instil  the  poison  of  his  malice  into  the 
P™Tninds  of  the  Pagan  Emperors,  and  to  inspire  them,  and 
the    o-overnors  of  the  Roman  provinces,  against  all  the 
Christians  in  general.     To  open  the  scene  and  begin  the 
bloody  tragedy,  he  made  use  of  the  emperor  Nero,  doubt- 
|k  less  a  very  proper  instrument  for  the  work,  as  being  al- 
P"  ready  a  monster  of  vice  and  cruelty,  that  glutted  his  savage 
mind  with  the  slaughter  of  his  own  mother  Agrippina,  his 
brot|ier  Britannicus,  his  two  wives  Octavia    and  Poppaea, 
and  his  preceptors  Seneca  and  Burrhus.     The  first  five 
years  of  his  reign  he  ruled  with  so  much  clemency,  that 
when  lie  was  to  sign  an  order  for   the  death  of  a  con- 
denjnea  person,  he  said,  "  I  wish  I  could  not  write."  But 
wiien  he  began  to  feel  the  dangerous  pleasure  of  being 
master  of  his  own  person  and  actions,  he  plunged  himself 
into  the  most  infamous  debaucheries.    He  forgot  all  com- 
mon rules  of  decency,  order,  or  justice.    It  was  his' great- 
est ambition  to  sing,  or  perform  the  part  of  an  actor  on 
he  stage,  to  play  on  musical   instruments  in  the  theatre, 
to  fish  with  nets  of  gold,  or  to  drive  a  chariot  in  the  circus. 
He  made  a  tour  through  the  principal  cities  of  Greece, 
attended  by  a  great  number  of  singers,  pantomimes,  and. 
musicians,  carrying,  instead  of  arms,  instruments  of  mu- 
ic,    masks,    and   theatrical    dresses.     Pie   gained  there 
eighteen  hvmdred  various  sorts  of  crowns,  at  the  Olym- 
j)ian  games  and  public  diversions.   Whosoever  did  not  ap- 
plaud all  his*performances,  or  had  not  the  complaisance 
to  let  him  carry  the  prize,  at  every  race,  or  pubhc  enter- 
tainment, his  throat  was  sure  to  be  cut,  or  he  was  reserved 
for  some  more  cruel  death.     It  was  in  the  year  64  that 
this  brutal  prince  first  drew  the  sword  of  sovereign  power 
against  the  Church,  and  returned  from  Greece  to  make 
F 


m 


ii^ 


€S  HISTORY    OF    HHE  **     ,^    *^ 

the  streets  of  Rome  stream  with  blood.  Envying  the  fate 
of  Priam,  who  saw  his  country  laid  in  ashes,  Nero  is 
charged  with  having  privately  ordered  the  city  of  Rome, 
to  be  set  on  fire,  and  with  having  caused  lighted  torches 
to  be  thrown  among  the  houses,  that  he  might  gkit  his  eyes 
with  an  image  of  the  burning  of  the  city  of  Troy.  During 
this  horrid  tragedy  he  was  seated  on  the  top  of  a  tower 
upon  a  neighbouring  hill,  in  the  theatrical  dress  of  a  mu- 
sician, singing  a  poem  which  he  had  composed  on  the 
burning  of  Troy.  Finding  himself  detested  by  the  people, 
who  imputed  the  burning  of  Rome  to  him,  he  endeavour- 
ed to  exculpate  himself,  and  to  transfer  the  odium  upon 
the  incendiaries.  Hence  he  published  a  severe  edict 
against  all  the  professors  of  Christianity,  and  ordered 
vast  multitudes  of  them  to  be  sacrificed,  not  only  in  Rome, 
but  likewise  in  all  the  different  provinces  of  the  Roman 
empire.  At  Rome  some  were  wrapt  up  in  the  skins  of 
wild  beasts,  and  thus  exposed  to  be  worried  by  dogs  ; 
others  were  crucified  ;  others  burnt  alive,  being  clad  in 
coats  dipt  in  pitch,  brimstone,  or  some  other  combustible 
matter,  and  then  fastened  to  stakes,  and  set  on  fire,  that 
they  might  serve,  instead  of  torches,  to  illuminate  the 
streets  and  other  public  places. — See  Tacitus,  1.  15,  c.  44. 
Nero  himself  is  said  to  have  driven  his  chariot,  and  ex- 
hibited a  public  show  in  his  gardens  by  the  light  of  these 
horrid  torches.  Historians  relate,  that  no  less  than  ten 
thousand  Christians  were  slain  in  one  single  city  by  his 
orders.  What  could  engage  such  multitudes  in  the  Chris- 
tian Religion,  and  support  them  in  it,  in  defiance  of  death 
in  the  most  shocking  forms,  but  evident  truth,  and  a  supe- 
rior grace  and  strength  from  above  ?  It  is  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  Christian  Religion  to  inspire  men  with  such  reso- 
lution, and  form  them  to  such  heroism,  that  they  rejoice  to 
sacrifice  their  life  to  truth.  This  is  not  the  bare  force  and 
exertion  of  nature,  but  the  undoubted  power  of  the  Al- 
mighty, whose  strength  is  thus  made  perfect  in  iixakness.  No 
other  religion  ever  produced  martyrs  so  meek,  so  humble, 
so  patient,  so  cheerful  and  steadfast,  under  the  most  intolera- 
ble torments.  If  we  contrast  the  pretended  heroism  of  the 
greatest  sages  of  Paganism,  with  the  fortitude  and  constan- 
cy of  the  Christian  martyrs,  we  shall  find  that  the  constancy 
of  the  Christian  is  founded  in  humility,  and  its  motive  the 
pure  love  of  God,  and  perfect  fidelity  to  his  holy  law.  He 


11^ 


11 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  6S 

mters  with  modesty,  charity,  and  tender  fortitude,  and 
'with  a  pure  intention  that  God  may  be  known,  honoured, 
and  glorified  by  the   testimony  he  bears  to  his  sovereign, 
goodness.     He  desires   no    acclamations,   seeks   no    ap* 
plause,    feels    no    sentiments    of  revenge,    praises    and 
thanks  God  amidst  his  torments,  and   affectionately  em- 
races,  loves,  and  prays  for  his  enemies  and  tormentors 
ike  St.  Stephen,  under  a  shower  of  stones,  and  covered 
ith  wounds   and  blood.     On  the   other  hand,  the  vain 
nd  proud  philosopher  is  puffed  up  in  his  own  mind,  be- 
ause  he  suffers  ;  he  sets  forth  his  pretended  virtue  with 
stentation  ;  he  conceals  his  inward  spite,  rage,  and  de- 
pair,  under  the  hypocritical  exterior  of  a  forced  and  af- 
ected  patience  ;  he  insults  his  enemies,  or  at  least  stu- 
dies and  wishes  revenge.     The  boasted  Cato  dreaded  and 
abhorred  the  sight  of  Caesar,  and  killed  himself,  that  he 
might  not  be  presented  before,  or  owe  his  life  to  an  ene- 
my, by  whom  he  was   vanquished.      Socrates  was  the 
only  philosopher  that  can  be  said  to  have  died  for  his  doc- 
trine, and  though  he  was  esteemed  the  best  and  the  wisest 
of  the  Heathens,  he  betrayed  a  restless  posture  of  mind, 
and  delivered  himself  with  fits  of  hope  and  fear,  in  that 
most  famous  discourse  which  he  is  supposed  to  have  made 
a  little  before  his   death  about   a  future  state.     By  the 
haughtiness  of  his   looks    he   despised    and  insulted    his 
udges,  and  by  the  insolence  of  his    behaviour   he    pro- 
voked them  to  condemn  him  ;  and  neither  Phaedo,  Cebes, 
Crito,  Simmias,  nor  any  of  his  greatest  friends  in  the 
Areopagus,  had  the  courage  to  maintain  either  his  inno- 
cence, or  that  doctrine  for  which  he  died.     With  what 
reserve  did  Plato  himself  dogmatize,  concerning  the  God 
whom  he  worshipped  in  public,   but  denied  in  private  ! 
How  did  he  dissemble,  for  fear  of  the  hemlock  of  Seneca  ! 
How    did  he  disguise   himself,  and  say  and  unsay  the 
same  excellent  truths  !     Only  the  Christians  suffered  with 
true  heroism,  and  held  on   suffering   at  this   rate,  until 
they  subdued  the  world  by  dying  for  their  religion. 

The  disturbances  under  the  emperors  Galba,  Otho,  and 
Vitellius,  wtie  in  their  turn  succeeded  Nero,  and  the 
humane  dispositions  of  Vespasian  and  his  son  Titus,  gave 
some  respite  to  the  Church.  Vespasian,  emulous  of  the 
virtues  of  Augustus,  reigned  with  such  clemency,  as  to 
be  grieved  at  the  infliction  of  punishment,  even  when  It 


^4  HISTORY    Ol'    TliE 

was  right.  Joseplms,  the  Jewish  Historian,  llattered  liiiii, 
as  if  he  had  been  the  Messiah  foretold  by  the  prophets. 
But  Vespasian  was  not  free  from  avarice,  for  he  laid  a 
tax  upon  urine,  and  was  accustomed  to  say,  tliat  gain 
made  every  thing  smell  sweet.  Titus,  on  account  of  his 
jugular  humanity,  was  called  the  deliglit  of  mankind  ; 
and  if  he  passed  a  day  without  exercising  his  l)cnevoleiice, 
he  used  this  memorable  saying  :  "  My  friends,  I  have 
lost  a  day  !"  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  poisoned  by 
liis  brother,  Domitian,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  empiie, 
but  not  in  his  humanity,  or  other  good  qualities,  for  Domi- 
tian became  a  second  Nero  in  cruelty.  This  is  the 
Emperor  who,  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  entertained 
himself  in  his  closet  with  catching  flies,  and  sticking  them 
with  a  sharp  bodkin.  Hence  Vibius  Crispus,  being  ask- 
ed who  was  with  the  Emperor  ?  aptly  replied,  Not  so 
much  as  a  fly. 

Domitian,  instigated  by  Satan,  began  the  second  gene- 
ral persecution  in  the  year  95,  and  published  neAv  edicts 
throughout  the  empire  against  the  C'hristians,  by  virtue 
of  which  great  numbers  were  made  victims  of  religion. 
Among  others,  he  put  to  death  Elavius  Clemens,  Antipas, 
St.  Nereus,  and  Achileus,  and  ordered  St.  John  the  Evan- 
gelist to  be  cast  into  a  caldron  of  boiling  oil. 

The  third  general  persecution  was  carried  on  by  the 
permission  of  Trajan.  This  Emperor,  indeed,  possessed 
many  amiable  qualities,  which  gained  him  from  the  Se- 
nate the  title  of  Oplimiis,  or  Good  Prince  ;  but  he  sullied 
his  Pagan  virtues  by  a  blind  superstition,  and  an  exces- 
sive vanity,  which  procured  him  the  surname  of  Parie- 
iinuSy  or  a  dauber  of  every  wall  with  the  inscription  of 
his  name  and  actions.  In  seven  years  he  built  the  fa- 
mous pillar  which  is  called  by  his  name,  and  justly  es- 
teemed a  finished  and  most  admirable  monument  of 
antiquity.  It  is  recorded  of  him,  that  when,  according 
to  the  usual  custom,  he  delivered  the  sv/ord  of  office  to 
the  chief  praetor  of  Rome,  he  said,  "  if  I  rule  with  jus- 
*' tice,  use  this  for  me — and  against  me,  if'I  rule  other- 
'*  wise."  He  issued  no  new  edicts  against  the  faithful, 
but  he  suffered  the  former  sanguinary  laws  to  be  execut- 
ed in  different  parts  of  the  empire,  in  the  year  106,  as 
appears  from  his  answer  to  Pliny  the  Younjjer,  governor 
of  Pontus  and  Bythinia,  who  had  informed  him  by  letf  er, 


-'k 

CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  '^^^■V       65 

That  the  Christians  were  very  numerous  in  the  provin- 
ces of  his  government,  that  the  temples  of  the  Gods  were 
abandoned,  their  feasts  were  interrupted,  and  scarce  anj 
H  victims  were  purchased  or  offered,  and,  therefore,  that 
he  wished  to  know  his  pleasure  what  should  be   done. 

t  Trajan's    answer    was  :    ''  Let   the    Christians   not   be 
*'  sought  for  ;  but  if  they  be  accused   and   convicted  as 
"  such,  let  them  he  punished.*'     Tertullian  justly  confutes 
this  absurd  and  unjust  answer,  by  a  keen  raillery,  and 
the  following  dilemma  :  "  If  they  are  criminal,  why  are 
IB  "  ^^^y^  ^^^  sought  after  ?  if  innocent,  why  are  they  pu- 
IB ''  nished  ?"      It  was  in  the  reign  of  this  Emperor  that 
St.  Clement,  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  disciple  of  St.  Pe- 
ter,   was  put  to  death.      St.  Simeon,  Bishop  of  Jerusa- 
lem,  and  brother  and  successor  of  St.  James  the  Less- 
km  ^^y  suffered  also  a  glorious  martyrdom  under  Trajan,  at 
IH  the  age  of  J  20  years  ;  and  St.  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Anti- 
P^och,  was  sent  by  him  to  Rome,  there  to  be  torn  to  pieces 
by  wild  beasts  in  the  amphitheatre.      St.  Ignatius  wrote 
W  seven   epistles,  still  Extant,  which    contain  a  sublimity, 
H  an  energy  and   beauty  of  thought  and  expression  that 
"     cannot  be  sufficiently  admired.      The  perfect  spirit   of 
humility,  meekness,  patience,  zeal,  and  burning  charity, 
which  they  breathe  in  every  period,  cannot  fail  deeply  to 
affect  all  who  attentively  read  them.     The  acts  of  his 
martyrdom,  written  by  the  Christians,   who  accompani- 
ed him  to  Rome,  bear  record,  that  a  great  respect  was 
paid  to  his  sacred  relics,  and  that  they  were  carried  to 
Antioch,  and  deposited  in  that  church  as  an  inestimable 
treasure. 

Trajan's  persecution,  in  some  degree,  continued  the 
first  year  of  his  successor,  -^lius  Adrianus'  reign,  but  he 
put  a  stop  to  it  about  the  year  124,  moved,  probably, 
both  by  the  apologies  of  Q,uadratus  and  Aristides,  and  by 
a  letter  which  the  proconsul  of  Asia  had  written  to  him 
in  favour  of  the  Christians.  This  emperor  came  into 
Britain,  and  separated  Scotland  from  England  by  a  wall 
of  80,000  paces.  So  monstrous  was  his  vanity,  that  he 
caused  all  to  be  slain  who  pretended,  in  any  art  or  sci- 
ence, to  rival  him.  He  reduced  the  tumultuous  Jews, 
who  revolted  against  the  Romans,  being  led  on  by  the 
advice  of  Coziba,  called  Barchokebas,  from  Barchokebay 
Son  of  the  Star,  who  assumed  the  title  of  the  King  of  the 
F2 


66  HISTORY    OF    TUB 

Jews.  Adrian  having  defeated  him,  destroyed  JerusaJem 
entirely,  in  the  year  134,  and  built  up  a  nevv  city  on  a 
different  spot,  giving  it  the  name  of  iEHa,  and  strictly 
forbidding  any  of  the  Jews  to  come  near  it.  Here  was 
formed  a  new  church  of  Jerusalem,  composed  of  Chris- 
tian Gentiles,  of  which  St.  Marcus  was  the  first  Bishop, 
the  former  Church  of  Jei-usalem  having  had  thirteen  holy 
Bishops,  successively,  after  St.  Simeon,  all  of  the  Jewish 
nation. — See  Eusebius,  1.  4.  c.  G.  St.  Paulinus  informs 
us,  that  Adrian  caused  a  statue  of  Jupiter  to  be  erected 
on  the  place  where  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  and  a  mar- 
ble Venus  on  the  place  of  his  crucifixion,  and  at  Bethle- 
hem a  grotto,  consecrated  in  honour  of  Adonis,  to  whom 
he  also  dedicated  the  cave  where  Christ  was  born.  This 
emperor,  towards  the  end  of  his  reign,  abandoned  him- 
self more  than  ever,  to  acts  of  cruelty  against  the  in- 
nocent flock  of  Christ  ;  particularly  against  St.  Sympho- 
rosa,  a  widow  of  distinction,  and  her  seven  sons,  whom, 
he  put  to  death  because  they  had  refused  to  ofiier  sacri- 
fice to  his  idols.  At  last  he  fell  sick  of  a  dropsy,  and 
finding  no  medicines  gave  him  relief,  he  grew  most  im- 
patient and  fretful  under  his  lingering  illness,  wishing  for 
death,  and  lamenting  day  and  night  that  death  refused 
to  obey  and  deliver  him,  who  had  caused  the  death  of  so 
raany  others.  He  at  length  hastened  his  death,  by  eat- 
ing and  drinking-  things  contrary  to  his  health  in  his  dis- 
temper, and  expired  with  these  words  in  his  mouth  : 
Turha  medicorum  Cazsarem  perdidit — The  multitude  of 
physicians  hath  killed  the  Emperor. 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Church  of  the  Second  ^Century 

THE  Christian  Religion,  by  the  beginning  of  the  se- 
cond century,  had  prodigiously  increased,  and  spread  it- 
self through  a  ^reat  extent  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa. 
St.  Justin,  in  his  dialogue  with  Trypho,  the  most  learned 
man  among  the  Jens,  tells  him,  "  that  there  is  no  race 
*'  of  men,  whether  Greeks  or  Barbarians,  or  of  whatever 
^'^cther  denomination,  amongst-Avhom  prayers  and  euch;at- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  6T 

'^  list  are  not  offered  to  the  Father  and  Maker  of  all 
"  things,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  crucified,"  St.  Irenaeus, 
who,  with  St.  Pothinus,  estabhshed  the  faith  at  Lyons 
and  Vienne  in  Gaul,  says,  1.  1.  c.  3,  "As  the  sun   is  one 

Knd  the  same  in  the  whole  universe,  so  also  the  faith, 
isseininated  through  the  whole  world,  is  kept  with 
reat  care  one  and  the  same  :  for,  though  in  the  world 
''  there  is  a  variety  of  languages,  yet  the  virtue  of  tradi- 
*'  tion  is  the  same  in  Germany,  Spain,  Gaul,  E«:ypt,  and 
*'  Lybia.  The  light  of  the  preaching  of  the  truth  every 
"  where  shines  and  enlightens  all  men  who  are  willing  to 
"  come  to  the  knowled";e  of  the  truth.''  TertuUiau 
also  soon  after,  tells  the  Romans,  Apologet.  c.  37,  p. 
39,  '^  We  are  but  of  yesterday,  and  we  have  overspread 
*'  your  empire.  Your  cities,  your  islands,  your  forts, 
"  towns,  arid  assemblies, — your  very  armies,  wards, 
''  companies,  tribes,  palaces,  senate,  and  forum,  SAvarni 
"  with  Christians.  We  have  left  nothing  but  your  tem- 
"  pies  to  yourselves."  In  his  book  against  the  Jews,  c.7, 
p.  189,  he  likewise  says,  "  Now  the  various  tribes  of  the 
*'  Getulians  and  Moors,  in  all  parts  of  Spain  and  Gaul, 
"  and  amongst  the  Sarmatians,  ])aci,  Germans,  and  Scy- 
*'  thians,  and  the  territories  of  the  Britons,  which  were 
''  inaccessible  to  the  Romans,  are  subject  to  the  religion 
"  of  Jesus  Christ."'  He  also  Avonclerfully  extols  the 
Christians  of  those  times,  for  the  purity  of  their  morals, 
arid  the  sanctity  of  their  lives  ;  and,  challenging  the  In- 
fidels to  the  trial,  he  bids  them  spill  on  the  spot  the 
blood  of  that  Christian  whose  prayer,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  should  fail  to  cast  the  devil  out  of  a  demoniac  pre- 
sented to  him, — Apolog.  c.  23. 

St.  Linus,  a  disciple  of  St.  Peter,  was  his  immediate 
mccessor  in  the  see  of  Rome  after  his  martyrdom,  and 
governed  the  Church  for  eleven  years.  St.  Cletus  was 
:he  third  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  succeeded  St.  Linus  :  he 
>at.  twelve  years  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  and  distinguish- 
]id  himself  among  the  illustrious  disciples  of  the  Apostles, 
vho  were  formed  upon  their  mode!,  to  perfect  virtue,  and 
illed  with  the  holy  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Upon  the  de- 
nise  of  St.  Cletus,  St.  Clement  a  fellow-labourer  v.ith  St. 
?eter  and  St.  Paul  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,  was 
ilaced  in  the  apostolic  chair,  and,  according  to  the  Li- 
jerian  Calendar,  he  sat  nine  ye;ars,  eleven  months,  and 


68  HISTORY    OF    THE 

twenty  days.  He  wrote  an  excellent  epistle  to  thfi 
Church  of  Corinth,  on  account  of  a  schism  that  happen- 
ed there  amongst  the  faithful,  a  party  of  whom  had  re- 
belled against  some  irreproachable  priests,  and  presumed 
to  depose  them.  The  epistle  the  Saint  wrote  on  this 
occasion  is  a  piece  highly  extolled,  and  esteemed  by  pri- 
mitive antiquity,  as  worthy  of  a  disciple  of  the  Apostles, 
In  his  days  Hermas,  who  is  supposed  to  be  the  same 
whom  St.  Paul  salutes,  Rom.  16.  14,  wrote  a  book  in 
recommendation  of  penance,  called  Pastor,  or  the  Shep- 
herd, which  was  so  highly  esteemed,  that  it  was  placed 
in  rank  next  to  the  canonical  books  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. St.  Linus,  St.  Cletus,  and  St.  Clement,  are  named 
in  ttie  Roman  Marty rology,  as  having  purchased  the  title 
of  martyrs,  by  their  sufferings  for  the  faith.  Nay,  the 
thirty-six  first  Bishops  of  Rome,  down  to  Liberius,  and, 
this  one  excepted,  all  the  Popes,  to  Symmachus,  the 
fifty-second,  in  the  year  498,  are  honoured  among  the 
Saints  and  glorious  Martyrs,  for  their  piety,  and  for  their 
sufferings  in  the  cause  of  Jesus  Christ. 

After  St.  Clement,  there  sat  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter, 
Anacletus,  Evaristus,  Alexander,  Sixtus,  Telesphorus, 
&c.  The  first  fervour  of  the  primitive  Christians  w^s 
preserved  in  this  century  by  thousands  of  the  faithful  in 
different  parts  of  the  world  ;  the  succession  of  Saints  was 
kept  up  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  the  doctrine  of 
faith  was  invariably  maintained  in  its  purity,  as  original- 
ly derived  from  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  by  numbers  of 
holy  bishops  and  doctors  ;  for,  whilst  the  holy  martyrs 
were  bearing  testimony  to  the  faith  by  the  effusion  of 
their  blood,  Divine  Providence  raised  up  a  multitude 
of  holy  prelates  and  illustrious  writers,  to  guard  it 
against  the  snares  of  heresy,  and  to  defend  it  by  their 
learned  apologies.  The  spirit  of  fervour  and  perfect 
sanctity,  vt^hich  is  now-a-days  so  rarely  found  in  the  very 
sanctuaries  of  virtue,  was  then  conspicuous  in  most  of  the 
faithful,  and  especially  in  their  pastors.  The  whole 
tenour  of  their  lives,  both  in  retirement  and  in  their 
public  actions,  breathed  it  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  render 
them  the  miracles  of  the  world,  angels  on  earth,  and 
living  copies  of  their  Divine  Redeemer.  Anacletus  go- 
verned the  Church  with  great  prudence  for  nine  years 
and  three  months,  according  to  the  Liberian  Pontifical, 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  Bf 

d  a  very  old  Vatican   manuscript   register.     Evaristiis 

Ioverned  the  Church  nine  years,  and  died  in  the  year 
^2.  Alexander  died  in  119.  Sixtus  governed  the 
jihurch  ten  years,  at  a  time  when  that  dignity  was  the 
^mnion  step  to  martyrdom.  Telesphorus  was  a  Grecian 
y  hirth,  and  the  ninth  Bishop  of  Rome  :  he  sat  eleven 
years,  and  saw  the  havock  which  the  persecution  ol' 
Adrian  made  in  the  Church.  Hyginus  was  placed  in  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter  in  the  year  139,  and  sat  fouryears,  ac- 

Iiprding  to  Eusebins.  In  the  year  140  Cerdo,  a  wolf  in 
peep's  clolhinjj;,  came  from  Syria  to  Rome,  and  began 
i  teach  that  there  v/ere  two  gods,  the  one  rigorous  and 
^vere,  the  author  of  the  Old  Testament — the  other 
merciful  and  good,  the  author  of  the  New,  and  the  father 
of  Christ,  sent  by  him  to  redeem  man  from  the  tyranny 
of  the  former.  Tlie  holy  Pope,  by  his  pastoral  vigilance, 
soon  detected  that  monster,  and  cut  him  off  from  the 
communion  of  the  Church.  Th6  heresiarch,  imposing 
upon  him  by  a  false  repentance,  was  again  received  ;  but 
the  zealous  pastor,  having  discovered  that  he  secretly 
preached  his  old  impious  opinions,  excommunicated  him 
a  second  time.  Another  heresiarch,  called  Valentine, 
came  from  Alexandria  to  Rome,  and  revived  the  errors 
of  Simon  Magus.  Being  a  Platonic  Philosopher,  and 
prifled  up  with  the  vain  opinion  of  his  learning,  he  also 
broached  many  absurd  and  extravagant  doctrines  of  his 
"tvn.  PIyj:;inus  endeavoured  in  vain  to  reclaim  him,  with- 
t  proceeding  to  extremities.  After  his  death,  Pius,  by 
om  he  was  succeeded,  condemned  Valentine,  and  re- 
cted  Marcian  the  heresiarch,  who  adopted  the  errors 
Cerdo.  Amcetus  governed  the  Church  from  the  year 
5  to  173,  and  tolerated  the  custom  of  the  Asiatics,  in 
lebratino;  Easter  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first 
oon  after  the  vernal  equinox,  with  the  Jews.  His  vigi- 
nce  protected  his  flock  from  the  wiles  of  Valentine  and 
arcian,  who  attempted  to  corrupt  the  faith.  Soter, 
ing  raised  to  the  see  of  Rome,  vigorously  opposed  the 
resy  of  Montanus,  a  vain,  ambitious  man,  of  Ma^sia,  on 
the  confines  of  Phrygia,  who,  out  of  an  unbounded  desire 
of  invading  the  first  dignities  of  the  Church,  and  filled 
with  rao:e  to  '^ee  himself  disappointed,  commenced  false 
prophet,  and  began  to  preach  against  the  Church,  deny- 
ing that  it  had  power  to   forgive  certain  sins.     He  pre- 


70  HISTORY    OF    THE 

tended  that  the  holy  Ghost  spoke  by  his  mouth  ;  uttered 
extraordinary  expressions  in  an  enthusiastic  strain,  and 
pubhshed  forged  revelations.  His  followers  afterwards 
advanced  that  he  was  himself  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Para- 
clete Spirit,  sent  by  Christ  to  perfect  the  law.  They  af- 
fected an  excessive  rigour  ;  had  many  fasts  ;  kept  three 
lents  in  the  year  ;  refused  the  communion  and  absolution 
to  persons  who  had  fallen  into  any  sin  of  idolatry,  mur- 
der, and  of  impurity  ;  condemned  second  marriages  as 
adulteries,  and  as  inconsistent  with  the  perfect  law  of 
chastity.  The  Montanists  were  also  called,  from  their 
country,  Cataphryges,  and  Pepuzeni,  from  Pepuzium,  a 
little  town,  which  was  their  capital,  and  which  they 
called  Jerusalem.  Priscilla  and  Maximilla,  two  women 
of  quality,  left  their  husbands,  and  being  filled  with  the 
same  spirit,  spoke  like  Montanus,  vaunted  their  pretend- 
ed prophecies,  and  became  the  oracles  of  their  deluded 
votaries.  But  their  hypocrisy  was  confounded,  and  their 
errors  refuted  and  condemned,  in  a  great  conference  held 
at  Ancyra,  in  the  year  188.  Some,  who  had  braved 
the  racks  of  the  persecutors,  and  despised  the  allure- 
ments of  pleasure,  had  the  misfortune  to  become  the 
dupes  of  these  wretched  enthusiasts.  About  the  same 
time  Tatian  fell  from  the  Church.  He  was  a  Platonic  Phi- 
losopher, puffed  up  with  the  opinion  of  his  own  knowledge 
and  learning,  and  fond  of  novelty  and  singularity.  He 
borrowed  several  of  his  errors  from  Marcian,  Valentinus, 
and  Saturninus,  and  condemned  second  marriage  as  no 
less  criminal  than  adultery.  Hence  his  followers  were 
called  Encratit(Ky  or  the  continent.  They  were  likewise 
called  Aquainif  because,  in  consecrating  the  Eucharist, 
they  used  only  water,  for  they  condemned  all  use  of 
wine,  and  likewise  the  use  of  flesh  meat,  as  St.  Epipha- 
nius,  St.  Irenaeus,  and  St.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  inform 
us.  Thus  it  is,  that  false  prophets  wear  every  face  ex- 
cept that  of  a  sincere  and  docile  humility  and  obedience. 
Pharisee  like,  they  please  themselves,  and  gratify  their 
own  pride,  in  an  affected  austerity,  by  which  they  seek 
to  establish  themselves  in  the  opinion  of  others,  but  tiieir 
severity  usually  ends  in  some  shameful  libertinism,  when 
vanity,  the  main  spring  of  their  ps^sions,  is  either  cloyed, 
or  finds  nothing  to  gratify  it.  ( 

Eleutherius,  who  succeeded  Soter,  was  watchful  to  cut 


CHURCH    Cf¥    CHRIST.  71 

these  scandals  in  their  root,  and  every  where  to 
laintain  the  faith  in  its  original  purity. — He  had  the  af- 
Iction  to  see  the  Church  beaten  with  violent  storms  and 
Persecutions,  but  he  had,  on  the  other  side,  the  comfort 
find  the  losses  richly  repaired,  by  the  acquisition  of 
;w  countries  to  the  Christian  Religion.  The  Light  of 
c  Gospel  had,  in  the  very  times  of  the  Apostles,  crossed 
e  sea  into  the  island  of  Great  Britain,  but  seems  to  have 
en  almost  choked  by  the  tares  of  the  reigning  super- 
stitions, or  oppressed  by  the  tumults  of  wars,  in  the  re- 
■Jpction  of  that  island  under  the  Roman  yoke,  till  God, 
'who  chose  poor  fishermen  to  convert  the  world,  inspired 
—Lucius,  a  petty  king,  who  held  a  part  of  that  remote 
Blonquered  country,  in  subjection  to  the  Romans,  to  send 
Bfc  solemn  embassy  to  Rome,  as  venerable  Bede  informs 
Ip,  praying  Eleutherius  to  grant  him  some  zealous  clergy- 
^nen,  who  might  instruct  his  subjects,  and  celebrate  and 
administer  to  them  the  divine  mysteries.  The  holy  Pope, 
■jtaiving  received  the  message  with  joy,  sent  over  St.  Fu- 
^^itius  and  St.  Dumianus,  apostolical  men,  who  baptized 
King  Lucius  and  many  others,  and  preached  Christ  in 
Britain  with  such  fruit,  that  the  faith,  in  a  short  time, 
passed  out  of  the  provinces  which  obeyed  the  Romans, 
into  those  Northern  parts  which  were  inaccessible  to  their 
eagles,  as  Tertullian  observed  soon  after. 

Eleutherius  dying  in  the  year  192,   after  having  go- 
verned the  Church  fifteen  years,  was  succeeded  in  the 
pontificate  by  Victor,  a  native  of  Africa,  who  zealously 
opposed  the  creeping   heresies  of  that  age.      Theodotus 
of  Byzantiimi,  a  tanner,  having    apostatized   from  the 
faith  to  save  his  life   in  a  persecution,  afterwards,  to  ex- 
tenuate his  guilt,  pretended  that   he    hud  denied   only  a 
man,  not  God,  teaching  that  Christ  was  nothing   more 
than  a  mere  man,  as  the   Socinians   teach    at  this  day  ; 
whereas,  the  Arians  allowed  him  to  have    been  before 
the  world,  though   they  impiously  asserted  hi'm  to  be  a 
creature.     Theodotus,  being  well  versed  in  polite  litera- 
ture, drew  many  into  his  blasphemous  errors,  but  Victor 
2hecked  his  progress  at  Rome,  by  excommunicating  him, 
ivith    Ebion,  Artemon,  and    another   Theodotus,    called 
Frapezita,  or  the  Banker,  who  taught  the  same  blasphe- 
y,  and  was  author   of  the   Melchisedechian   Heresy, 
hich  a<*s^rted  that  Melchisedec  was  greater  than  Christv 


72  .      HISTORY    Oh     Tlili 

Praxeas,  also  began  to  sow  a  new  heresy  at  Rome  abou^ 
this  time,  maintaining  but  one  person  in  God,  and  attri- 
buting crucifixion  to  the  Father  as  well  as  to  the  Son,  ibr 
which  reason  his  followers  were  called  Patripassians. 
His  errors  beinj:  brought  to  light,  he  was  cut  ofi'  from  the 
communion  of  the  Church.  It  was  this  same  Praxcas 
who,  before  that,  had  brought  Pope  Victor  an  ample 
account  from  the  East  of  the  tenets  and  practice  of  the 
Montanists,  who  had  deceived  Victor,  and  prevailed  on 
him,  by  the  favourable  report  he  had  heard  of  their 
morals  and  virtue,  to  send  them  letters  of  comnmnion. 
It  was  easy  to  be  deceived  in  a  matter  of  fact  concern- 
ing persons  at  such  a  distance,  and  who,  for  a  long  time, 
disguised  themselves  under  the  garb  of  hypocrisy  ;  but 
he  no  sooner  answered  their  letters,  and  was  undeceived 
as  to  their  persons,  and  their  facts  and  tenets,  than  he 
immediately  recalled  his  letters  of  peace,  and  condemned 
these  innovators.  So  that  Dr.  Cave,  and  some  others, 
who  think  that  the  Pope  approved  of  their  doctrine,  are 
greatly  mistaken. 

Victor  exerted  his  zeal  in  the  dispute  about  the  time 
of  celebrating  Easter,  The  Churches  of  Lesser  Asia 
kept  it,  with  the  Jews,  on  the  14th  day  of  the  first  moon 
after  the  Vernal  Equinox,  on  whatever  day  of  the  week 
it  fell.  The  Roman  Church,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  woi-ld, 
kept  Easter  always  on  the  Sunday  imniediatcly  follouing 
that  14th  day.  Anicetus  permitted  the  Asiatics,  even  at 
Rome,  to  follow  their  own  custom,  but  Soter  o])liged 
them  to  conform  to  the  customs  of  the  places  where  they 
should  be.  Several  councils  unanimously  determined  the 
point  according  to  the  Roman  custom.  BJastus,  who 
pretended  that  the  custom  tolerated  in  the  Oiientals  was 
a  divine  precept,  and  ought  to  be  followed  at  Rome,  v.  as 
degraded  by  Eleutherius.  Those  who  did  this  upon  the 
false  principle  that  the  Jewish  ceremonial  laws  bound 
Christians,  and  were  not  abolished  Avhen  fulfilled  by  ihe 
coming  of  Christ,  were  deemed  lieretics.  Others,  on  ac- 
count of  their  separation  from  the  Church,  and  obstinate- 
ly refusing  submission  to  its  decrees  and  censures,  were, 
after  the  Cou^icil  of  Nice,  looked  ujson  as  schismatics, 
and  were  called  Quciriodechmms.  Victor,  seeing  the 
Asiatics  fixed  in  their  resolution  to  follow  their  ov.  n  cus- 
toxn,  and  thinking  the   difference  of  this    rite    might  be 


CatUCH  OF  CHRIST.       ^^^^^^    «jr3 

dangerous  to  the  unity  of  the  Church,  threatened  to  ex- 
eommunicate  them,  but  was  dissuaded  by  a  letter  which  St. 
Irenaeus  wrote  to  him  on  the  subject.  Victor  died  in  the 
year  201,  after  he  had  sat  ten  years.  What  veneration, 
must  the  morality  of  the  Gospel  command,  when  set  off 
with  all  its  lustre  in  the  lives  and  spirit  of  such  zealous 
pastors,  since  the  bare  precepts  and  maxims  it  lays  down 
are  allowed,  by  Deists  and  Infidels  themselves,  to  claim 
the  highest  respect,  and  to  be  most  admirable  and  evi- 
dently divine  ! 

The  principal  ecclesiastical  writers  who  flourished  in 
this  age,  and  wrote  in  vindication  of  the  Christian  Reli- 
gion, were,  St.  Justin  ;  St.  Irenaeus  ;  St.  Q,uadratus  ;  St. 
Clement,  of  Alexandria  ;  St.  Aristides,  of  Athens  ;  St. 
Hegesippus  ;  St.  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis,  in  Lydia  ;  St. 
Theophilus,  Bishop  of  Antioch  ;  St.  Serapion,  the  eighth 
Bishop  of  the  same  see  ;  St.  Dionysius,  Bishop  of  Corinth  ; 
St.  Pinitus  ;  St.  Philip,  Bishop  of  Crete  ;  St.  Apolinaris, 
Bishop  of  Hierapolis  ;  St.  Apollonius  ;  St.  Pantanus,  mas- 
ter of  the  famous  school  of  Alexandria,  and  afterwards 
preacher  of  the  Gospel  in  the  East  Indies  ;  Athenagoras  ; 
Tertullian,  and  others  ;  many  of  whose  choice  produc- 
tions are  not  come  to  our  hands,  except  a  few  fragments. 
Justin  was  brought  up  by  his  father  in  the  errors  and  su- 
perstitions of  Paganism,  and  spent  his  youth  in  reading 
the  Poets,  orators,  and  historians.  Having  gone  through 
the  usual  course  of  their  studies,  he  applied  himself  to 
philosophy  in  quest  of  truth,  an  ardent  love  of  which  was 
his  predominant  passion.  He  addressed  himself,  first  to 
Stoic,  then  to  Peripatetic,  and  afterwards  to  Pythago- 
rean masters,  who  boasted  much  of  their  wisdom,  but 
preferring  the  school  of  an  academic,  he  soon  made  a 
great  progress  under  him,  in  the  Platonic  philosophy. 
Upon  an  inquiry  into  the  credibility  of  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion, and  seeing  the  innocence  and  true  virtue  of  its 
professors,  and  admiring  the  courage  and  constancy  with 
which  they  suffered  the  sharpest  tortures,  rather  than 
deny  their  faith,  or  commit  the  least  sin,  he  embraced 
Christianity,  from  a  conviction  of  its  superior  excellency, 
and  because  he  found  it  to  be  the  only  true  philosophy. 
He  came  to  Rome  after  his  conversion,  and  published 
some  works  to  convince  the  Heathens  of  the  reasonable- 
aess  of  his  having  deserted  Pao-anism.  Herein  he  shows 
G 


74  HISTORY   OP    THE 

the  errors  and  absurdity  of  Idolatry,  and  the  vanity  of 
the  Heathen  Philosophers,  and  proves  the  unity  of  God 
from  their  own  testimonies  and  reasons.  He  demon- 
strates the  imperfection  of  the  Jewish  worship,  and  sets 
forth  the  purity  and  sanctity  of  the  Christian  doctrine. 
He  explains  clearly  the  Divinity  of  Christ  the  Maker  of  all 
things,  and  Son  of  Gody  and  wonderfully  extols  "  the  im- 
*^  mense  goodness  and  love  of  God  for  man,  in  creating 
"  him,  and  the  world  for  his  use,  and  in  sending  his  only 
"  begotten  Son  to  teach  us  his  holy  mysteries,  and  when 
*^  we  deserved  only  chastisement,  to  pay  the  full  price  of 
"  our  redemption  :  the  Holy  one  to  suffer  for  sinners — 
"  the  person  offended,  for  the  offenders."  He  defended 
the  Catholic  faith  against  Marcian,  and  against  all  the 
heresies  of  that  age,  and  for  two  entire  days  disputed,  in 
the  presence  of  several  witnesses,  with  Tryphon,  a  fa- 
mous Philosopher,  and  the  most  celebrated  Jew  of  those 
times,  as  Eusebius  says.  Justin,  after  he  became  a 
Christian,  continued  to  wear  the  pallium,  or  cloak,  which 
was  the  singular  badge  of  a  philosopher.  Tryphon  ca- 
sually meeting  him,  and  seeing  the  philosopher's  cloak,  ad- 
dressed him  on  the  excellency  of  philosophy.  Justus  an- 
swered, that  he  admired  he  should  not  rather  study  Moses 
and  the  Prophets,  in  comparison  of  whom  all  the  writings 
of  the  philosopers  are  empty  jargon  and  foolish  dreams. 
Then  he  showed,  that,  according  to  the  Prophets,  the 
Old  Law  was  temporary,  and  to  be  abolished  by  the 
New  ;  that  Christ  was  God  before  all  ages,  distinct  from 
the  Father,  the  same  that  appeared  to  Abraham,  Moses, 
&c.  the  same  that  created  man,  and  was  himself  made 
man,  and  crucified.  Justin  afterwards  committed  this 
dialogue  to  writing  :  The  Socinians  dread  the  authority 
of  it,  on  account  of  the  clear  proofs  which  it  furnishes  of 
the  divinity  of  Christ.  But  what  chiefly  renders  Justin's 
name  so  illustrious,  were  the  apologies  which  he  address- 
ed to  the  Emperor  and  Senate  of  Rome,  about  the  years 
150  and  167.  The  lies  and  calumnies  generally  spread 
abroad  by  the  enemies  and  slanderers  of  the  Christian 
name,  served  for  a  pretence  to  justify  the  persecutions 
that  were  raised  against  them.  They  were  every  where 
traduced,  as  a  wicked  and  barbarous  set  of  people,  ene- 
mies to  their  very  species.  They  were  deemed  Atheists, 
and  accused  of  practising  the  mo^t  abominable  evils,  and 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  75 

forming  conspiracies  against  the   state  ;  which  slanders 
seem  to  have  been  founded  on  the  secrecy  of  their  mys- 

»ries.  They  were  said  in  their  sacred  assemblies  to 
ed  on  the  flesh  of  a  murdered  child  ;  to  which  calumny 
false  notion  of  the  blessed  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist 
might  give  birth.  Celsus,  and  other  Heathens,  add,  that 
they  adored  the  cross  ;  which  slander  seems  to  have 
been  grounded  on  the  respect  that  was  shown  to  the  sign 
of  the  Holy  Cross  since  the  earliest  years  of  Christianity. 
|A.ll  these  circumstances  stirred  up  the  zeal  of  St.  Justin 
to  write  and  present  his  apologies,  wherein  he  sets  forth 
the  sanctity  and  manners  of  Christians,  and  shows  that 
they  ought  not  to  be  condemned  barely  for  the  name  of 
Christian.  He  vindicates  their  faith  from  all  the  slanders 
that  were  forged  and  unjustly  propagated  against  it.  He 
describes  the  manner  of  sanctifying  the  Sunday,  by  meet- 
,  ing  to  celebrate  the  divine  mysteries,  to  read  the  Pro- 
phets, hear  the  exhortation  of  him  that  presides,  aud 
make  a  collection  of  alms  to  be  distributed  among  the 
orphans,  widows,  sick,  prisoners,  and  strangers.  He  de- 
scribes the  sacraments  ofvBaptism  and  the  blessed  Eucha- 
rist, mentioning  the  latter  also  as  a  sacrifice  :  "  No  one," 
says  he,  n.  66.  p.  83.  "  is  allowed  to  partake  of  this  food, 
"  but  he  that  believes  our  doctrines  to  be  true,  and  who 
"  has  been  baptized  in  the  laver  of  regeneration  for  re- 
"  mission  of  sins,  and  lives  up  to  what  Christ  has  taught ; 
"  for  we  take  not  these  as  common  bread  and  common 
**  drink,  but  like  as  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour,  being  in- 
'^  carnate  by  the  word  of  God,  had  both  flesh  and  blood 
^'  for  our  salvation,  so  are  we  taught  that  this  food,  by 
**  which  our  flesh  and  blood  are  nourished,  over  which 
"  thanks  have  been  given  by  the  prayers  in  his  own 
"  words,  is  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  incarnate  Jesus." 
He  shows,  in  fine,  that  the  Christians  fly  all  oaths,  love 
even  enemies  ;  abhor  the  least  impurity  ;  are  patient  and 
meek  ;  readily  pay  all  taxes  ;  respectfully  obey  and  ho- 
nour princes  ;  share  their  riches  with  the  poor  ;  have 
so  great  an  abhorrence  of  the  least  wilfid  untruth,  that 
they  were  ready,  rather  to  die,  than  to  save  their  lives 
by  a  lie  ;  that  numbers  among  them  who  were  then  sixty 
years  old,  had  served  God  from  their  infancy  in  a  state 
of  spotless  virginity,  without  having  oflJended  against  the 
virtue  of  chastity,  in  action,   or  even  in  thought  j  th^ 


H6  HISTORY    Of   T»E 

their  fidelity  to  God  was  inviolable,  and  their  constancy 
in  observing  his  law  invincible,  "No  one,"  says  he, can 
*'  affright  from  their  duty  those  who  beheve  in  Jesus.  In 
"  all  parts  of  the  earth  we  cease  not  to  confess  him,, 
"  though  we  lose  our  heads,  be  crucified,  or  exposed  to 
"  wild  beasts."  This  great  and  ancient  Father  of  the 
Church  suffered  martyrdom  about  the  year  167,  in  the 
reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius  and  Lucius  Verus. 

St.  Irenasus  is  called,  by  Theodoret,  the  Light  of  the 
Western  Gauls,  and,  by  St.  Epiphanius,  a  most  learned 
and  eloquent  man,  endowed  with  all  the  gifts  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  He  was  a  scholar  of  the  great  St.  Polycarp,  and 
ofPapias,  another  disciple  of  the  Apostles,  St.  Gregory 
of  Tours  informs  us,  that  St.  Polycarp  sent  Irenaeus  into 
Gaul,  where  he  was  ordained  by  St.  Pothynus,  Bisho|)  of 
I-iyons.  After  the  death  of  St.  Pothynus,  he  was  chosen 
second  Bishop  of  Lyons,  and  by  his  preaching  he,  in  a 
short  time,  converted  almost  that  whole  country  to  the 
faith.  He  wrote  five  books  against  the  heresies  of  his 
days,  and  confuted  them  by  the  Holy  Scriptures,  by  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  and  by  the  unanimity  of  all  churches  in 
the  same  faith.  He  testifies,  that  the  Christians,  by  the 
gift  of  God,  cast  out  devils,  cured  the  sick,  raised  the 
dead,  and  performed  miraculous  works  every  day,  over 
the  whole  world  in  the  name  of  Christ  Jesus. — 1.  2.  c.  57. 
He  describes  the  superstitions  and  impostures  of  the 
heresiarch  Mark,  "  who,  in  consecrating  chalices  filled 
*^  with  water  and  wine,  according  to  the  Christian  rite, 
"  made  the  chalices  appear  filled  with  a  certain  red  liquor, 
"  which  he  called  blood  ;  and  who  allowed  women  to 
"  consecrate  the  holy  mysteries."  In  his  third  book  he 
complains  ^'  that  when  the  heretics  are  pressed  by  scrip- 
*H^  ture,  they  elude  it  by  pretending  to  fly  to  tradition, 
'^  but  that  when  tradition  is  urged  against  them,  they 
"  abandon  it  to  appeal  to  the  scripture  alone,  whereas, 
*'  both  scripture  and  tradition  confute  them."  He  ob- 
serves, "  that  the  Apostles  certainly  delivered  the  truth, 
*'  and  all  the  mysteries  of  our  faith,  to  their  successors, 
'^  the  pastors  ;  to  these  therefore,  we  ought  to  have  re- 
"  course  to  learn,  especially  to  the  greatest  Church,  the 
*'  most  ancient  and  known  to  all,  founded  at  Rome  by  the 
*'  two  most  glorious  Apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  which  re- 
«  tajiis  the  tradition  that  it  received  from  them,  and  wliich 


CHURCH    OF    CHRISt.  7Tt 

**  is  derived,  through  a  succession  of  Bishops,  down  tct 
"  us."  He  adds,  that  "  the  Valentinians  and  Marcianites 
"  had  nothing  but  the  novelty  of  their  doctrine  to  show  ; 
**  for  the  Valentinians  were  not  before  Valentinus,  nor 
^*  the  Marcianites  before  Marcian.  All  these  arose  much 
"  too  late,  their  novelty  alone  suffices  to  confound  them." 
In  his  fourth  book  he  proves  the  unity  of  the  Godhead, 
and  teaches,  (c.  17,  18.)  "  that  Christ,  abolishing  the  an- 
"  cient  sacrifices,  instituted  the  clean  oblation  of  his  body 
**  and  blood,  to  be  offered  every  where,  as  is  foretold  ia 
*^  Malachy."  In  the  fifth  book  he  proves  our  redemptioii 
by  Christ,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  mentions 
the  prophetic  gifts  and  other  miraculous  powers  then  sub- 
sisting in  the  Church.  A  correct  edition  of  the  works  o£ 
this  primitive  father  has  been  published  by  Dom.  Mas- 
suel  a  Benedictine  Maurist,  in  the  year  1710.  They 
were  published  by  Erasmus  before,  and  in  the  year  1702, 
by  Grabe,  but  this  last  editor  often  makes  too  bold  with 
the  text,  and  turns  it  to  a  wrong  sense,  in  order  to  favour 
his  own  innovations.  St.  Irenaeus  suffered  martyrdom  ia 
the  general  massacre  of  the  Christians  at  Lyons,  whilst 
the  Pagans  were  celebrating  the  decennial  games,  in  ho- 
nour of  the  Emperor  Severus,  as  he  passed  through  that 
city  in  his  expedition  into  Britain.  St.  Gregory  of  Tours 
writes,  that  almost  all  the  Christians  of  that  populous 
city  were  butchered  with  Irenaeus,  and  that  the  streets 
ran  with  streams  of  blood.  An  ancient  epitaph,  in  leo^ 
nine  verses,  inscribed  on  a  curious  Mosaic  pavement  ia 
the  great  Church  at  Lyons,  says,  the  number  of  martyrs 
who  died  with  him  amounted  to  nineteen  thousand. 

St.  Quadratus,  Bishop  of  Athens,  was  a  disciple  of  the 
Apostles,  inherited  their  spirit  and  gifts,  and  by  his  mira- 
cles and  labours  exceedingly  propagated  the  faith,  as 
Eusebius  testifies.  He  succeeded  St.  Publius,  the  imme- 
diate successor  of  St.  Dionysius,  the  Areopagite,  and  was 
esteemed  by  the  heathens  as  a  greater  ornament  to  their 
city,  than  the  seat  of  the  Muses.     He  presented  to  the 

^^mperor  Adrian  an  apology  for  the  Christian  Religion, 

Home  time  after  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Publius,  and  it  pro- 
cured him  such  applause,  even  among  the  Heathens, 
that  it  extinguished  a  violent  persecution. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  was  a  native  of  Athens,  well 

I  skilled  in  the  Platonic  Philosophy,  and  a  scholar  of  Pan- 

'  G2 


IB  1M STORY   OF   THE 

taenus,  who  taught  the  Catechetical  school  at  Alexandria. 
In  his  search  of  truth  he  discovered  the  folly  of  idolatry, 
and  came  to  the  light  of  faith.  Pantaeniis  being  sent  by 
the  Bishop  Demetrius  into  the  Indies,  in  the  year  189, 
Clement  succeeded  him  in  the  great  school  of  the  Chris- 
tian doctrine  at  Alexandria,  in  which  he  taught  with  suc- 
cess, and,  among  other  scholars  of  great  eminence,  had 
Origen  and  St.  Alexander,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Jerusalem 
and  martyr.  He  was  promoted  to  the  priesthood  about 
the  year  195,  and  published  several  books,  wherein  he 
laid  open  the  absurdity  of  idolatry,  and  gave  an  histori- 
cal account  of  its  mythology.  He  shows  in  what  man- 
ner the  Christians  lived  in  those  early  ages,  and  lays 
down  many  excellent  rules  for  conducting  souls  to  true 
perfection.  Great  erudition  is  displayed  in  all  his  writ- 
ings. He  died  at  Alexandria  before  the  end  of  the  reign 
of  Caracalla,  who  was  slain  by  Macrinus,  in  the  year  217, 

St.  Hegesippus,  a  primitive  father  near  the  times  of  the 
Apostles,  wrote  an  history  of  the  Church,  in  five  books, 
from  the  passion  of  Christ  down  to  his  own  time  in  the 
year  133,  and  gave  in  it  illustrious  proofs  of  his  faith, 
showing  the  apostolical  tradition,  and  proving,  that  no 
episcopal  see,  or  particular  church  had  fallen  into  error, 
but  had  in  all  things  preserved  inviolably  the  truths  de- 
livered by  Christ,  as  Eusebius  informs  us,  lib.  4.  c.  22. 

St.  Theophilus  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious  bishops 
and  learned  fathers  of  the  second  century.  His  writings 
are  highly  valued  by  Eusebius  and  St.  Jerdm,  for  elegance 
of  style,  variety  of  erudition,  and  a  discreet  and  w  arm 
spirit  of  piety  and  religion.  His  parents,  being  Gentiles, 
trained  him  in  idolatry,  and  gave  him  a  liberal  education. 
He  was  well  versed  in  the  works  of  the  greatest  masters 
of  ancient  philosophy  ;  but  finding  the  religion,  in  which 
he  was  reared,  to  be  not  only  unsatisfactory,  but  also 
absurd  and  ridiculous,  he  had  too  honest  an  hesirt  to  take 
Tip  with  falsehood  and  impiety,  because  it  was  fashiona- 
ble. In  his  diligent  inquiry  after  truth,  he  fell  upon  the 
books  of  the  Prophets  and  Gospels,  and  was  much  de- 
lighted with  the  sublime  verities  which  they  contain. 
The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  was  for  some  time  a 
^reat  stumbling  block  to  him.  There  was  scarcely  any 
article  of  faith  which  met  with  so  mufih  opposition  as  this 
from  the  Heathen  Philosophers.     So   full  were  their 


^neac 


IJHURCH   OP   CHRIST.  ^9 


(Is  of  the  axiom,  that  from  a  privation  of  form  to  the 
repossession  of  it,  there  can  be  no  return,  that  they  un- 
derstood it,  not  only  of  the  order  of  things  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature,  but  as  if  it  implied  a  contradiction, 
though  certainly  in  the  supernatural  order  of  things,  it  is 
equally  easy  to  Omnipotence  to  restore  our  scattered 
parts,  and  combine  them  again  into  the  same  mass,  as  it 
was  at  first  to  create  them  out  of  nothing.  Theophilus 
at  length  conquered  this  difficulty,  by  reading  the  sacred 

iracles  of  truth,  and  by  frequent  reflections  upon  the 
lany  shadows  of  a  resurrection  which  God  had  impress- 
d  upon  several  parts  of  the  creation,  in  the  common 
ourse  of  nature.  After  his  conversion,  being  chosen 
iishop  of  Antioch,  and  successor  to  Eros,  he  laboured 
zealously  to  promote  virtue  and  true  religion,  and  to 
draw  sinners  from  the  wanderings  of  heresy  and  idolatry 
into  the  paths  of  eternal  life.  Heresies  and  schisms  he 
compared  to  dangerous   rocks,  upon  which  whoever  is 

tast  nins  the  dreadful  hazard  of  losing  his  immortal  soul. 
As  pirates,"  says  he,  "by  striking  on  rocks,  dash   to 
pieces  their  laden  vessels,  so  whoever  are  drawn  aside 
from  the  truth  shall  be  miserably  overwhelmed  in  their 
error." — 1.  2.  ad  Antolyc.   p.  183.       He   tells   them, 
that  it  is  in  vain  to  make  an  inquiry  after  truth,  unless 
"  they  reform  their  hearts,  and  proceed  with  views  per- 
^'  fectly  pure  ;  for  the  passions  raise  clouds,  which  blind 
^  reason.     All  men  have  eyes,"  says  he,  "yet  the  sun  is 
Hg  veiled  from  the  eyes  of  some  :  it,  however,  ceases  not 
|Bto  emit  a  flood  of  day,  though  those  whose  eyes   are 
^*  blinded,  see  not  its  radiant  light.     But  this  defect  is  not 
*'  to  be  laid  to  their  charge,  nor  can  the  sun  be  com- 
**  plained  of  on  account  of  their  blindness." 

St.  Dionysius,  Bishop  of  Corinth,  flourished  under  the 
Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius.     This  primitive  father  says, 
"  that  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  after  planting  the  faith  at 
1^  Corinth,  went  both  into  Italy,  and  there  sealed  their 
"  testimony  with  their  blood."     Eusebius  mentions  seve- 
ral of  his  instructive  letters  to  the  faithful. 
■^  St.  Apollinaris  rendered  his  name  illustrious  hy  a  noble 
Topology  for  the  Christian  Religion,  which  he  addressed  to 
the  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius,  about  the  year  175,  to  re- 
mind him  of  the  benefit  he  had  received  from  God,  by 
the  prayers  of  the  Christians,  and  to  imt)lore  his  prote(^ 


to  HISTORY   OF  THE 

St.  Apollonius  also  composed  an  excellent  apology  m 
vindication  of  the  Christians,  and  spoke  it  in  a  full  senate, 
but  having  refused  to  renounce  Christianity,  he  was  con- 
demned to  be  beheaded  about  the  year  186. 

St.  Pantaenus,  a  learned  father  of  the  second  century, 
is  for  his  eloquence,  styled,  by  St.  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
the  Sicilian  See,  being  by  profession  a  Stoic  philosopher, 
his  esteem  for  virtue  led  him  into  an  acquaintance  with 
the  Christians,  and  being  charmed  with  the  innocence 
and  sanctity  of  their  conversation,  he  opened  his  eyes  to 
the  truth,  and  embraced  the  faith. 

Tertullian  was  born  at  Carthage,  in  the  year  160.  He 
applied  himself  from  his  youth  to  the  study  of  every 
branch  of  literature,  poetry,  philosophy,  geometry,  phy- 
sic, and  oratory.  He  dived  into  the  principles  of  each 
sect,  and  both  into  the  fabulous  and  into  the  real  or  his- 
torical part  of  mythology.  His  comprehensive  genius 
led  him  through  the  whole  circle  of  profane  sciences. 
He  had  a  surprising  vivacity  and  keenness  of  wit,  and  an 
uncommon  stock  of  natural  fire,  which  rendered  him  ex- 
ceedingly hot  and  impatient,  as  himself  complains.  His 
other  passions  he  restrained  after  his  conversion  to 
Christianity.  The  motives  which  engaged  him  to  em- 
brace the  Christian  Religion  were  the  antiquity  of  the 
Mosaic  w'ritings,  the  mighty  w^orks  and  wisdom  of  the 
Divine  Law-giver  ;  the  continued  chain  of  prophecy  and 
wonders  conducting  the  attentive  inquirer  to  Christ  ;  the 
evidence  of  the  miracles  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles  ;  the 
excellency  of  the  law  of  the  Gospel,  and  its  amazing  in- 
fluence upon  the  lives  of  men  ;  the  power  which  every 
Christian  then  exercised  over  evil  spirits  ;  and  the  tes- 
timony of  the  very  devils  themselves,  whom  the  infi- 
dels worshipped  for  Gods,  and  who  turned  preachers 
of  Christ,  howling  and  confessing  themselves  devils  in 
the  presence  of  their  own  votaries — Apol.  c.  19,  20.  23, 
&c.  Being  excellently  formed  for  controversy,  he  im- 
mediately began  to  write  in  defence  of  religion,  which 
was  then  attacked  by  the  Heathens  and  Jews  on  one 
side,  and  on  the  other  by  heretics.  He  successfully 
employed  his  pen  against  all  these  enemies  to  truth. 
The  persecution  which  began  to  rage,  gave  occasion 
to  his  Apologetic,  which  is  a  master-piece,  and  indispu- 
tably one  of  the  best  among  all  the  works  of  Christian 


CHUROH   OP   CHRIST.  81 

intiquity.  By  it  be  gave  a  deadly  blow  to  Paganism, 
and  refuted  all  the  calumnies  published  against  the  Chris- 
tians. He  shows  the  divine  morality  of  their  doctrine, 
and  exposes  the  incoherence  and  absurdity  of  the  Pagan 
religion.  He  mentions  their  submission  to  the  Emperors, 
their  love  of  their  enemies,  their  mutual  charity,  horror 
of  all  vice,  patience  and  constancy  in  suffering  death  and 
all  manner  of  torments  for  the  sake  of  virtue.  The  Hea- 
thens called  them,  in   derision,  Sm'mentiiians  and  Scmax- 

.^jf^ns,  because  they  were  fastened  by  the  executioners  to 

IH'unks  of  trees,  and  stuck  about  with  fagots,  to  be  set  on 
fire  :  but  Tertullian  answers  them,  ''  Thus  dressed  about 
"with  fire,  we  are  in  our  most  illustrious  apparel  ;  these 
"are  our  triumphal  robes,  embroidered  with  palm  branch- 
"  es,  in  token  of  victory,  and  mounted  upon  the  pile  we 
"look  upon  ourselves  as  in  our  triumphal  chariot.  Who- 
"  ever  looked  well  into  our  religion,  but  he  came  over 
"to  it  }  And  who  ever  came  over  to  it,  but  was  ready  to 

H^ suffer  for  it  ^  We  thank  you  for  condemning  us,  be- 
"  cause  there  is  such  a  blessed  discord  between  the  di- 
*^vine  and  human  judgment,  that  when  you  condemn  us 
"  upon  earth,  God  absolveth  us  in  heaven." 

In  his  excellent  book  of  Prescriplion  against  HereticSy 
he  lays  a  great  stress  on  his  communion  with  all  the 
Apostolic  Churches,  especially  that  of  Rome,  and  con- 
futes by  general  principles  all  heresies  that  can  arise. 
He  shows,  "  that  the  appeal  to  scripture  is  very  unjust 
"  in  them  who  have  no  claim  or  title  to  the  scriptures  : 
"  Those  were  carefully  committed  in  trust  by  the  Apostles 
"  to  their  successors  ;"  and  he  proves,  that  "  to  whom 
"  the  scriptures  were  intrusted,  to  them  also  was  com- 

l^mitted  the  interpretation  of  scripture."     He  urges,  c. 

IB5,  "  that  Marcian — Appelles — Valentinus — and  Hermo- 

■■'  genes,  a  Stoic  Philosopher  and  Christian  in  Africa,  who 

"  taught  matter  to  be  eternal,  were  of  too  modern  a  date, 

**  and  that  the  Church  was  before  them,  and  that  before 

"  they  can  commence  Apostles,  they  ought  to  say,  that 

■^  Christ  came  down  again  from  Heaven,  and  taught  again 

Iv  upon  earth."  He  says,  "  that  if  they  have  the  confi- 
*'  dence  to  put  in  their  claim  to  apostolic  antiquity,  they 
"  should  prove  their  mission  by  miracles,  like  the  Apostles, 
"  and  should  show  the  original  of  their  Churches,  the 
'*  ordjer  and  succession  gf  their  Bishops  so  as  to  ascend  up 


$2  ft  I  STORY   OF    THE 

"  to  an  Apostle,"  &c.  He  adds,  ''  to  these  men  the 
*'  Church  might  thus  freely  address  herself  :  Who  are 
"  ye  ?  when,  and  from  whence  came  ye  ?  What  do  ye  in 
*'  my  pastures,  who  are  none  of  mine  ?  By  what  authori- 
*'  ty  do  you,  Marcian,  break  in  upon  my  enclosures  ? 
*'  Whence,  O  Apelles,  is  your  power  to  remove  my  land- 
"  marks  ?  This  field  is  mine  of  right  :  why,  then,  do  you 
*'  at  your  pleasure  sow  and  feed  therein  ?  It  is  my  pos- 
*'  session  :  I  held  it  in  times  past  ;  I  first  had  it  in  my 
"  hands  :  my  title  to  it  is  firm  and  indisputable,  and  de- 
"  rived  from  those  persons  whose  it  was,  and  to  whom  it 
"  properly  belonged — I  am  the  heir  of  the  Apostles  ;♦  as* 
*'  they  provided  in  their  testament,  as  they  committed 
^'  and  delivered  to  my  trust,  as  they  charged  and  ordered 
^'  me,  so  I  hold." — c.  37.  He  observes,  in  fine,  in  this 
book,  that  heresies  are  no  just  cause  of  scandal  or  won- 
der, any  more  than  fevers,  which  consume  the  human 
body  ;  for  they  were  predicted  by  Christ,  and  they  are 
the  necessary  consequence  of  the  criminal  passions  of 
ipen,  who  are  unwilling  to  be  governed  by  any  rules,  but 
model  every  thing  according  to  their  own  fancy. 

The  most  useful  among  his  other  works,  and  the  best 
polished,  is  his  book  On  Penance,  wherein  he  treats  of 
repentance  a:t  Baptism,  and  for  the  sins  committed  after 
Baptism,  which  he  there  proves  the  Church  has  power  to 
lemit. 

In  his  treatise  On  the  shotos  he  represents  them  as  oc- 
casions of  sin,  and  the  Stage  as  the  school  of  the  world, 
and  of  course  an  antichristian  school  :  He  mentions  a 
lyoman,  who,  going  to  the  theatre,  returned  back  pos- 
sessed of  a  devil.  When  the  exorcist  reproached  the 
evil  spirit  for  daring  to  attack  one  of  the  faithful,  it  bold- 
ly answered,  I  found  her  in  my  own  house. 

Tertullian,  in  his  other  works,  recommends  modesty 
in  attire  to  women,  and  condemns  the  use  of  paint.  He 
mentions  several  in  the  Church  living  in  perpetual  con- 
tinency,  from  a  conviction  that  those,  who  for  the  sake 
of  practising  more  perfect  virtue,  prefer  a  state  of  perpe- 
tual virginity  and  voluntary  chastity,  embrace  that  which 
is  more  perfect  and  more  excellent.  This  is  the  mani- 
fest inspired  doctrine  of  St.  Paul,  1  Cor.  7.  and  in  the 
Revelations  of  St.  John,  14.  Spotless  virgins  are  called, 
ijj  a  particular  manner  the  companions  of  tJie  Lamb,  and 


m 


CHURCH   OF   CHRIST.  'HH*  ^^ 

are  said  to  enjoy  the  singular  privilege  of  following  him 
Vvherever  he  goes.  The  holy  Fathers  are  all  profuse  in 
^^xtolling  the  excellency  of  holy  virginity,  as  a  special 
^fc-uit  of  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  his  divine  institution, 
and  a  virtue  that  raises  men,  even  in  this  mortal  life,  to 
the  dignity  of  angels  ;  disengages  the  mind  and  heart 
from  worldly  thoughts  and  aflections  ;  purifies  the  soul, 
and  produces  in  it  the  nearest  resemblance  to  God,  who 
delights  in  chaste  minds,  and  chooses  to  dwell  singularly 
them. 

Tertullian  dissuades  widows  from  second  marriages,  for 
this  reason,  among  others,  because  he  says,  it  is  the  diUy 
of  a  widow  always  to  pray  for  the  soul  of  her  deceased  hus- 
band. He  informs  us,  that  on  the  sacred  chalices  was 
represented  the  image  of  the  good  shepherd  bringing 
home  the  lost  sheep  on  his  shoulders,  that  the  blessed 
Eucharist  was  received  by  the  faithful  before  they  took 
any  food,  that  they  fasted  through  obligation  every  day 
before  Easter  (that  is,  in  Lent)  till  vespers,  or  evening 
prayers,  and,  out  of  devotion,  on  Wednesday  and  Friday 
till  three  o'clock,  some  abstaining  from  all  vinous  and 
juicy  fruits,  and  using  only  dried  meats,  others  confining 
themselves  to  bread  and  water.  This  ancient  writer  also 
mentions  the  ceremonies  used  at  baptism  ;  the  yearly 
oblations  or  sacrifices  for  the  dead  ;  standing  at  prayer 
on  the  Lord's  day,  and  from  Easter  to  Whitsuntide  ;  and 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  which,  he  says,  ^^  the  Christians 
*^  then  usually  made  upon  their  foreheads  at  every  action 
*'  and  in  all  their  motions, — at  coming  in  or  going  out  of 
*'  doors,  in  dressing  or  washing  themselves,  when  they 
*^  sat  down  to  table,  or  went  to  bed,  when  they  light  a 
<^  lamp  or  candle,''  &c. — De  Cor.  c.  3,  4. 

St.  Vincent  of  Lerins,  speaking  of  Tertullian,  says, 
_  JJe  was  among  the  Latins  what  Origen  was  among  the 
IBrreeks,  the  first  man  of  his  age.  Every  word  in  his 
writings  seems  a  sentence,  and  almost  every  sentence,  a 
new  victory  over  his  adversaries  ;  yet  with  all  these 
advantages  he  did  not  persevere  to  the  end  of  his  life 
in  the  ancient  and  universal  faith  :  by  pride  he  misera- 
bly fell  into  the  reveries  of  the  Montanists,  about  the 
time  of  the  death  of  Pope  Victor.  He  maintained  that 
second  marriages  were  unlawful,  and  denied  that  the 
Church   could  forgive  sins  of  impurity,  nurcjer  or  ido- 


d4  HISTORY   OF    THE 

latry.  His  vehement  temper  knowing  no  medium,  he 
resented  some  affronts  which  he  imagined  he  had  re- 
ceived from  the  clergy  of  Rome,  as  St.  Jerome  testi- 
fies, and  in  this  passion  he  deserted  the  Church.  But 
as  Solomon's  fall  did  not  prejudice  his  former  inspired 
writings,  neither  did  the  misfortune  of  TertuUian  destroy, 
at  least  the  justness  of  the  reasoning  in  what  he  had 
written  in  defence  of  the  truth,  any  more  than  if  a  man 
lost  his  senses,  this  unlucky  accident  could  annul  what 
he  had  formerly  done  for  the  advancement  of  learning. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

TTie  fourth  and  fifth  general  Persecution. 

ARRIUS  ANTONINUS,  being  adopted  by  the  Em- 
peror  Adrian,  ascended  the  Imperial  Throne  in  the  year 
138,  and  obtained  the  surname  of  Pius,  according  to  some 
historians,  by  his  gratitude  to  Adrian,  and,  according  to 
others,  by  his  clemency,  and  other  moral  virtues.  He 
had  often  in  his  mouth  the  celebrated  saying  of  Scipio 
Africanus:  that  *'  he  would  rather  save  the  life  of  one 
"citizen,  than  destroy  a  thousand  enemies."  He  was 
eminent  for  his  learning,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  Stoic 
philosophy.  Yet  he  had  the  weakness  to  extort,  by  his 
tears  and  entreaties,  a  decree  from  the  Senate  to  enrql 
Adrian  among  the  Gods,  and  to  appoint  a  temple  for  his 
worship  ;  he  likewise  caused  his  wife,  Faustina,  to  be  ho- 
noured after  h«r  death  as  a  Goddess.  He  did  not  raise 
any  new  persecution  against  the  Church,  but  he  was  so 
pusillanimous,  that  he  had  not  always  courage  to  protect 
the  innocent  from  the  fury  and  malice  of  their  enemies. 
St.  Justin,  Eusebius,  and  TertuUian  inform  us,  that  in 
his  reign  the  blood  of  the  saints  was  often  shed,  and  that 
the  Christians  were  tortured  with  the  most  barbarous 
cruelty,  without  having  been  convicted  of  any  crime. 
Ruinart  testifies,  that  in  his  reign  the  seven  brothers,  Ja- 
nuarius,  MartiaKs,  Felix,  Philip,  Sylvanus,  Alexander, 
and  Vitalis,  suffered  martyrdom,  with  their  pious  mother, 
Felicitas,  a  noble  widow  in  Rome,  who  had  brought  them 
up  in  the  most  perfect  sentiments  an(i  practice  of  heroic 


CHURCH    OP    CHRIST.  85 

ViHue,  and  who,  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  having 
made  a  vow  of  continency,  employed  herself  wholly  in 
prayer,  fasting,  and  works  of  charity, 
^k  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus,  the  adopted  son  and  suc- 
^Tessor  of  Arrius  Antoninus,  was  renowned  for  his  wisdom, 
^moderation,  and  attention  to  the  good  of  the  Roman  em- 
P^ire.     He  was  surnamed  the  Philosopher,  and  had  a  say- 

I'ng  of  Plato's  for  ever  in  his  mouth  :  "  Happy  is  that 
r  state,  where  philosophers  ai-e  kings,  and  kings  philoso- 
f  phers."  However,  the  lustre  of  his  wise  administration 
(('as  not  without  shades,  and  his  apparent  virtues  were 
mixed  with  an  alloy  of  superstition  and  vice.  It  is  cer- 
tain, that  with  all  his  philosophical  knowledge  and  princely 
qualities,  he  was  a  bigoted  Pagan  by  principle,  and  did  not 
lOve  his  Christian  subjects,  though  they  did  nothing  but 
good  to  mankind.  Besides  a  tincture  of  superstition  and 
-philosophical  frenzy,  a  mixture  of  weakness  was  blended  in 
his  character,  notwithstanding  the  boasted  cry  of  his  wis- 
dom :  Was  it  not  acting  out  of  character,  and  more  like 
a  pedant  than  a  prince,  for  a  Roman  Emperor,  in  his  old 
age,  to  trudge  with  his  book,  like  a  School-boy,  to  the 
house  of  Sextus  the  philosopher,  to  learn  his  lesson  r  The 
fourth  general  persecution  took  place  under  this  empe- 
ror, in  the  year  166,  for  he  then  published  fresh  edicts 
against  the  Christians,  and  commanded  them  to  be  pu- 

Kished  with  death.  In  consequence  hereof  numbers  were 
rowned  with  martyrdom  at  that  period  both  in  Asia  and 
1  Gavd,  particularly  at  Smyrna  and  at  Lyons,  and  Vien- 
a.  Amongst  the  rest,  St.  Polycarp,  Bishop  of  Smyrna, 
was  put  to  a  cruel  death  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years  : 
and  Eusebius  informs  us,  Hist.  I.  4,  c.  13,  that  the  Chris- 
tians of  that  city  carried  away  his  relicks,  and  valued 
them  more  than  gold  and  precious  stones.  St.  Pothinus, 
Bishop  of  Lyons,  and  many  others,  of  all  ages  and  con- 
ditions, were  also,  through  the  most  acute  torments,  con- 
veyed to  Heaven.  At  Rome  St.  Justin  was  beheaded. 
At  length  Marcus  Aurelius  put  a  stop  to  this  persecution, 
about  the  year  174,  and  pubHshed  an  edict  in  fi^our  of 
the  Christians,  after  the  miraculous  victory  he  gained  in 
Germany.  It  is  thus  related  by  Eusebius,  Tertullian,  St. 
Jerom,  St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  and  by  thje  Christian  and 
Heathen  historians  of  those  times.  Marcus  Aurelius  hav- 
ing long  attempted,  without  success,  to  subdue  the  Ger- 


36  HISTORY   OF    THE 

mans  by  his  generals,  resolved  to  lead  a  powerful  army 
against  them.  He  and  his  army  were  beyond  the  Da- 
nube, shut  up  in  narrow  defiles,  and  surrounded  by  the 
Quadi,  a  people  inhabiting  that  tract  now  called  Mora- 
via. He  was  in  such  a  disadvantageous  situation,  that 
there  was  no  possibility  that  either  he  or  his  army  could 
escape  out  of  their  hands,  or  subsist  long  where  they  were, 
for  want  of  water.  The  twelfth  legion,  called  the  Mele- 
fine,  from  a  town  of  that  name  in  Armenia,  where  it  had 
been  quartered  for  a  long  time,  was  chiefly  composed  of 
Christians  :  These,  when  the  army  was  drawn  up,  but 
languid  and  ready  to  perish  with  excessive  heat  and  thirst, 
fell  upon  their  knees,  "  as  we  are  accustomed  to  do  at 
"  prayer,"  says  Eusebius,  and  humbly  addressed  them- 
selves to  God  for  relief.  The  enemies,  surprised  at  so 
strange  a  sight,  assailed  the  Roman  camp  with  impetuo- 
sity ;  but  on  a  sudden,  the  sky  being  darkened  with 
clouds,  a  thick  rain  showered  down  immediately  and  re- 
lieved the  Romans,  who  fought  and  drank  at  the  same 
lime,  catching  the  rain  as  it  fell  in  their  helmets,  and 
often  swallowing  it  mingled  with  blood.  By  this  means 
Ihey  were  much  refreshed  ;  but  the  Germans  being  still 
too  strong  for  them,  the  storm  was  driven  by  a  violent 
ivind  upon  their  faces,  and  accompanied  with  such  dread- 
ful flashes  of  lightning  and  loud  thunder,  that  they  were 
terrified,  and  deprived  of  their  sight  and  beaten  down  to 
the  ground.  In  fine,  being  entirely  routed,  and  put  to 
flight,  they  sent  back  thirteen  thousand  prisoners,  whom 
they  had  taken,  and  begged  for  peace,  on  whatever  con- 
ditions it  should  please  the  emperor  to  grant  it  to  them. 
In  acknowledgment  hereof,  he  immediately  gave  this 
Christian  Legion  the  name  of  the  Thundeting  Legion, 
and  took  the  title  of  the  Seventh  time  Envperor,  contrary 
to  custom,  and  without  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  regard-, 
ing  it  as  given  him  by  Heaven.  Out  of  gratitude  to  his 
Christian  soldiers,  he  published  an  edict,  in  which  he 
conf^ed  himself  indebted  for  his  delivery  to  the  shoiver 
obtained,  perhaps  hy  the  prayers  of  the  Christians,  and 
more  he  could  not  say,  without  .danger  of  exasperating 
the  Senate.  In  it  he  forbade,  under  pain  of  death,  any 
one  to  accuse  a  Christian,  on  account  of  his  religion  ;  yet 
by  a  strange  inconsistency,  especially  in  so  wise  a  prince, 
being  overawed  by  the  opposition  of  the  Senate^  he  ha4 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 


8t 


not  the  courage  to  abolish  the  laws  already  made  and  in 
force  against  the  Christians  ;  for  which  reason  the  go- 
vernors in  several  places  availed  themselves  of  these  laws, 
and  put  many  of  the  faithful  to  death,  though  their  ac- 
cusers were  also  put  to  death,  as  appears  in  the  case 
of  St.  Apollonius,  and  of  the  martyrs  of  Lyons.  To 
perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  the  aforesaid  signal 
prodigy  and  wonderful  deliverance  of  Marcus  Aurelius 
Antoninus,  with  his  army,  the  Columna  Anioniana,  or 
Antonine  Pillar,  was  erected  in  one  of  the  piazzas  of 
Rome,  with  a  representation  of  this  remarkable  event  on 
■te  base  relievos,  by  the  figure  of  a  Jupiter  Pluvius,  fly- 
^^  in  the  air,  with  his  arms  expanded,  and  a  long  beard, 
which  seems  to  waste  awav  in  rain.  The  Christian  sol- 
diers  are  represented  as  relieved  by  this  sudden  tempest, 
and  in  a  posture  partly  drinking  of  the  rain  water,  and 
partly  fighting  against  their  enemies,  who,  on  the  contrary, 
are  repi-esented  as  stretched  out  on  the  ground  with  their 
liorses,  and  upon  them  only  the  dreadful  pai-t  of  the 
storm  is  descending.  Sixtus  V.  placed  on  the  summit  of 
this  pillar  a  beautiful  statue  of  St.  Paul,  as  he  did  another 
elegant  statue  of  St.  Peter  on  Trajan's  Pillar,  mstead  of 
the  golden  urn,  wherein  the  ashes  of  that  emperor  had 
been  lodged  according  to  the  custom  of  the  ancient  Ro- 
mans. These  pillars  are  still  extant,  as  likewise  a  curious 
equestrian  bronze  statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  erected  in 
the  centre  of  the  platform  of  the  Capitolium,  on  a  lofty 
square  marble  pedestal,  formed  out  of  one  block,  by  Mi- 
chael Angelo.  This  statue  is  admirably  well  finished,  and 
so  expressive,  that  Charles  Maratti,  viewing  it  with  ad- 
miration, cried  out  and  said  :  March  forward — Do  you 
forget  that  you  are  alive  ? 

Lucius  Commodus,  having  succeeded  his  father,  Mar- 
cus Aurelius,  began  his  reign  with  extraordinary  mode- 
ration, and  though  he  afterwards  sunk  into  debauchery 
and  cruelty,  for  which  he  was  poisoned  and  strangled,  in 
the  year  192,  yet  he  never  persecuted  the  Christians. 
After  his  death,  Helvius  Pertinax,  at  the  age  of  69  years, 
was  made  emperor  by  compulsion,  but  reigned  only 
eighty-seven  days,  always  trembhng  for  his  own  safe- 
ty. He  was  stabbed  in  his  palace  by  the  fury  of  the 
soldiery.  On  that  occasion,  the  Praetorian  Guards,  who 
•'ad  often  made  and  unmade  emperors  at  pleasure,  de- 


t8  HISTORY    OF    THE 

based  to  the  last  degree  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  em-s- 
pire, having  exposed  it  to  sale  by  public  auction.  Di- 
dius  Julianus  and  Sulpicianus,  having  several  times  out- 
bid each  other,  when  the  latter  had  offered  five  thou- 
sand drachms,  Julianus  at  once  rose  to  62.50,  which  he 
promised  to  give  each  soldier.  Having  carried  the  em- 
pire for  this  price,  the  senate  confirmed  the  election, 
but  the  purchaser  being  embarrassed  to  find  money  to  ac- 
quit himself  of  his  engagement,  was  murdered  sixty-six 
days  after,  so  that  he  dearly  bouglit  the  honour  of  wear- 
ing the  purple,  and  of  having  his  name  placed  among  the 
emperors.  Septimius  Severus,  a  man  really,  as  well  as 
nominally,  severe,  vere  pertinaXy  vere  severus^  as  the  com- 
mon people  used  to  say  of  him,  was  next  advanced  to  the 
throne,  by  a  part  of  the  troops,  and  acknowledged  empe- 
ror by  the  senate.  Pescennius  Niger,  praefect  in  Syria, 
and  Clodius  Albinus,  praefect  of  Britain,  both  competi- 
tors for  the  empire,  were  proclaimed  by  different  armies  } 
but  Severus  defeated  the  first,  by  his  generals,  in  the 
year  194,  and  the  latter  himself  near  I^yons,  in  Gaul,  in 
the  year  197.  The  Christians  had  no  share  in  these  pub- 
lic broils.  Tertullian,  at  that  time,  extols  their  fidelity 
to  the  ruling  princes,  and  says,  none  of  them  were  ever 
found  in  the  armies  of  rebels,  or  engaged  in  the  party  of 
either  of  the  two  competitors  of  Severus.  They  regard- 
ed the  confirmation  of  the  senate,  in  the  name  of  the 
whole  Roman  people,  as  the  solemn  act  of  state  by  which 
the  emperor  was  legally  invested  with  that  supreme  digni- 
ty, and  on  this  account,  they  every  where  acknowledged 
and  faithfully  obeyed  Severus  ;  nay,  a  Christian  called 
Proculus,  cured  him  miraculously  of  some  grievous  dis- 
temper, as  TertuUian  tells  us,  1.  de  Scapul.  c.  4.  for  which 
benefit  the  emperor  was  for  some  time  favourable  to  the 
Christia  s,  but  the  clamours  of  the  Heathens  at  length 
moved  him  to  raise  the  fifth  general  persecution  against 
the  Church.  About  the  conclusion  of  the  second  centu- 
ry, and  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign,  he  issued  his  bloody 
edicts  agai.  st  the  Christians,  and  had  them  executed  with 
such  rigour  and  barbarity,  that  it  was  imagined  that  the 
time  of  Antichrist  was  come. — Having  formerly  been 
governor  of  Lyons,  and  an  eye  witness  to  the  flourishing 
state  of  that  Church,  he  seems  to  have  given  particular 
iivstructions,  that  the  Christians  there,  who  refused  to 


tlhjfeCll   OP   CHRIST.  89 

join  the  idolaters  in  the  sacrifices,  should  be  proceeded 
^■gainst  with  extraordinary  severity.  The  fire  of  this  per- 
secution raged  through  all  the  provinces  of  the  Roman 
^^mpire,  but  far  from  consuming  the  Church  of  Christ,  it 
served  only  to  purify  it,  and  to  make  it  shine  with  great- 
er lustre.  The  more  Christians  were  put  to  death,  the  more 
their  number  daily  increased  and  multiplied  under  their 
very  oppressions,  and  the  more  converts  were  made  to 
Christianity  from  the  view  of  such  wonderful  examples 
of  fortitude,  which  made  Tertuliian  say,  that  their  blood 
w^as  a  seed  that  continually  produced  new  crops  of  Chris- 
tians, and  w^as  multiplied  to  an  himdred  fold.  God  was 
pleased  to  work  miracles  frequently  at  their  martyrdom, 
whereby  many  of  the  spectators,  and  sometimes  the  very 
executioners,  and  the  judges  themselves,  were  converted. 
They  appeared  Avith  courage  before  the  tribunals,  and 
viewed  \Vith  calmness  and  unconcern  the  racks  and  oth^r 
instruments  prepared  for  their  torture,  ready  to  meet 
death  in  all  its  forms  of  cruelty.  It  was  not  for  w  ant  of 
strength  or  valour  that  they  suffered  with  such  patience 
every  persecution  and  insult,  but  from  a  principle  of  reli- 
gion, which  taught  them  submission  to  the  civil  authority 
of  government.  They  preferred  torments  and  death  to 
sin,  because  the  love  of  God,  above  all  things,  reigned  iu 
their  heart.  Far  from  denying  our  relij^ion,  "  we  say^ 
*'  we  are  Christians,"  says  Tertuliian.  "  We  proclaim  it 
"  to  the  whole  world,  even  under  the  hands  of  the  execu- 
*^  tioners,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  the  torments  you  inflict 
"  upon  us  to  compel  us  to  unsay  and  deny  it.  Torn  and 
"  mangled,  and  weltering  in  our  blood,  we  cry  out,  as 
"  loud  as  we  are  able  to  cry,  that  we  are  worshippers  of 
*'  God,  through  Jesus  Christ."  It  was  under  the  tyrant 
Severus,  that  Leonidas,  Origen's  father,  was  beheaded  at 
Alexandria,  St.  Separatus  and  his  companions  were  be- 
headed at  Carthage,  St.  Felicitas  and  St.  Perpetua  were 
martyred  in  Mauritania,  St.  Potamiaena  and  her  mother, 
arcella,  were  burned  ahve  at  Alexandria,  with  several 
thers  who  had  been  educated  in  the  school  of  Origen. 
everus,  after  carrying  on  the  prosecution  ten  years,  as 
ulpicius  informs  us,  whilst  he  was  making  war  in  Bri- 
ain,  being  on  his  march  with  his  army,  his  eldest  soa 
Bassianus,  surnamed  Antoninus  Caracalla,  who  marched 
after  him,  stopped  his  horse,  and  drew  his  sword  t« 
H2 


90  tnsroim  or  ti^ 

stab  him,  but  was  prevented  by  the  outcry  of  those  about 
him.  Severus  only  reproached  him  for  his  intended 
parricide,  but  died  soon  after  at  York,  of  grief  and  me- 
lancholy for  his  son's  treachery,  rather  than  of  the  gout. 
His  two  sons,  Antoninus  Caracalla,  and  Geta,  succeeded 
him,  but  the  eldest  caused  the  latter  to  be  stabbed  in 
his  mother's  bosom,  who  was  sprinkled  with  his  blood. 
Caracalla  himself,  after  a  cruel  and  abominable  reign  of 
six  years,  was  slain  by  Macrinus,  who,  from  being  a 
gladiator  and  huntsman,  was  elected  emperor,  and  after  an 
unsuccessful  war  with  the  Parthians,  and  a  reign  of  one 
year  and  two  months,  was  slain  by  the  soldiers.  Macri- 
nus was  succeeded  by  Varius  Heliogabalus,  who  being 
one  of  the  most  filthy  monsters  Rome  ever  produced,  was 
likewise  put  to  death  by  the  soldiery,  and  after  having 
been  dragged  through  the  streets  of  Rome,  he  was  thrown 
into  the  Tyber. 


CHAPTER  Xn. 

The  Church  of  the  third  Century. 

IN  this  century  the  succession  o(^  chief  Pastors,  and 
of  Saints  and  Martyrs,  was  kept  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter, 
by  Zephyrinus,  Calixtus,  Urbanus,  Pontianus,  Antherus, 
Fabianus,  Cornelius  Lucius,  Stephanus,  Xystus,  Diony- 
sius,  Felix,  Eutychianus,  Caius,  and  Marcellinus.  IB 
other  sees,  a  similar  succession  of  holy  Bishops  was  kept 
up,  the  doctrine  of  faith  and  morals  was  preserved  in  its 
primitive  purity,  and  the  Church  of  Christ  made  fresh 
acquisitions  by  the  conversion  of  numberless  infidels  in 
Armenia  and  Persia,  and  by  settling  a  new  colony  of 
Saints  in  the  deserts  of  Egypt  and  Thebais.  The  princi- 
pal fathers  and  ecclesiastical  writers  of  this  age  were 
Caius,  a  disciple  of  the  great  St.  Irenaeus,  and  a  regiona- 
ry  bishop,  who  was  commissioned  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
though  he  was  not  fixed  in  any  particular  see,  Hippoly- 
tus,  a  most  learned  and  holy  prelate,  Minucius  Felix,  Ju- 
lias Africanus,  St.  Cyprian,  St.  Gregory  of  Neocaesarea, 
§t.  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  St.  Victorinus  of  Pannonia,  St^ 
Methodius  Bishop  of  Tyre,  with  whom  we  may  join  the 


CHtinCH    OP    CHRIST.  91 

great  prodigy  of  his  days,  Origen,  a  priest  of  Alexandria, 
Arnobiu?  the  orator,  and  his  scholar  Lactantius,  the 
Christian  Tully. 

St.  Zephyrinus,  a  native  of  Rome,  succeeded  Victor, 
and  filled  the  pontifical  chair  seventeen  years.  He  was 
a  zealous  defender  of  Christ's  divinity,  maintained  the 
sacred  deposit  of  the  faith  of  the  Church  inviolable,  and 
watched  over  the  purity  of  its  morals  and  the  sanctity  of 
its  discipline.  He  was  the  support  and  comfort  of  his  dis- 
tressed flock,  under  the  bloody  persecution  of  Severus, 
and  he  suffered  by  charity  and  compassion  what  every 
confessor  underwent.  The  triumphs  of  the  Martyrs  were 
indeed  his  joy,  but  his  heart  received  many  deep  wounds 
from  the  fall  of  apostates  and  the  blasphemies  of  Arte- 
mon,  Marcian,  Montanus,  and  Theodotus  the  banker,  and 
Theodotus  the  tanner.  Eusebius  informs  us  that  St. 
Zephyrinus,  affected  by  the  tears  and  compunction  of 
Natalis,  who,  covered  with  sackcloth  and  ashes  and  pros- 
trated at  the  feet  of  the  clergy,  humbly  implored  forgive- 
ness for  the  scandal  he  had  given,  re-admitted  him  to  the 
communion  of  the  Church,  and  granted  him  an  indul- 
gence or  relaxation  of  the  severity  of  the  discipline,  that 
required  a  penitential  delay  and  trial. 

St.  Calixtus,  or  Calistus,  succeeded  St.  Zephyrinus  in 
the  pontificate,  in  the  year  217,  or  218,  and  governed  the 
Church  five  years  and  two  months  with  great  prudence, 
piety,  and  religion.  The  pontificals  ascribe  to  him  a  de- 
cree appointing  the  four  quarterly  fasts,  called  Ember 
days.  He  also  decreed  that  ordinations  should  be  held  in 
each  of  the  Ember  weeks.  From  St.  Peter  to  St.  Sylves- 
ter, we  read  of  no  other  Pope  holding  ordinations,  but  in 
the  month  of  December.  The  name  of  St.  Calixtus  is 
rendered  famous  by  the  ancient  cemetery,  which  he  en- 
larged and  adorned  on  the  Appian  Road,  and  which,  for 
the  great  number  of  holy  martyrs,  whose  bodies  were 
there  deposited,  became  the  most  celebrated  of  all  those 
about  Rome.  The  entrance  of  it  is  at  St.  Sebastians,  one 
of  the  seven  principal  churches  of  Rome,  and  in  it  the 
bodies  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  lay  for  some  time,  ac- 
^  cording  to  Anastasius.  Mabillon  observes,  that  in  the 
first  ages  of  the  Church,  the  primitive  Christians  were 
desirous  to  be  buried  near  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  in' 
)lopes  of  bein^  assisted  by  their  prayers^  and  of  rising  in 


92  HISTORY   OP    THE 

their  glorious  company  at  the  last  day.  They  also  tarri- 
ed their  faces  towards  the  East  at  prayer,  and  built  their 
churches  and  oratories,  so  that  the  high  altar  and  head 
of  the  church,  was  eastwards,  the  rising  Sun  being  a  sym- 
bol of  the  resurrection.  They  hkevvise  buried  the  faith- 
ful with  their  feet  turned  towards  the  East,  that  they 
might  rise  facing  the  rising  sun.  The  Romans  burned 
the  corpses  of  their  dead,  and  placed  the  urns,  in  which 
the  ashes  were  contained,  usually  on  the  sides  of  the  high 
ways,  as  Cicero  informs  us.  The  Egyptians  preserved 
their  dead  bodies,  and  the  Persians  cast  them  to  the  wild 
beasts  ;  but  the  faithful  in  all  ages  down  from  Adam, 
were  careful  to  treat  the  dead  with  religious  respect,  and 
to  bury  them  with  decency  and  modesty  in  the  earth, 
where,  according  to  the  sentence  pronounced  by  God, 
they  return  to  dust  till  the  general  resurrection.  The 
commendations,  which  our  Lord  bestowed  on  the  Woman 
who  poured  precious  ointments  upon  his  head,  a  little  be- 
fore his  death,  and  the  devotion  of  those  pious  persons, 
who  took  so  much  care  of  his  funeral,  strongly  recom- 
mended this  office  of  charity,  to  the  primitive  Christians, 
and  their  practice  in  this  respect,  consisted  not  in  any 
extravagant  pomp,  but  in  a  modest  religious  gravity  and 
respect,  that  was  expressive  of  their  lively  faith  and  firm 
hope  of  a  future  resurrection,  in  which  they  regarded  the 
mortal  remains  of  their  dead  as  precious  in  the  eyes  of 
God,  who  watches  over  them,  regarding  them  as  the  ap- 
ple of  his  eye,  to  be  raised  one  day  in  the  brightest  glory, 
and  made  shining  lustres  in  the  heavenly  Jerusalem. 

St.  Urban  succeeded  Calixtus  in  the  year  223,  and  go- 
verned the  Church  seven  years.  He  was  succeeded  by 
St.  Pontian,  who  being  persecuted  and  banished  by  the 
emperor  Maximinus  into  the  isl«  of  Sardinia,  died  there, 
if  not  by  the  sword,  at  least  by  the  hardships  of  his  exile, 
and  the  unhealthfulness  of  the  air,  as  Tillemont  informs 
us.  T.  3. 

St.  Antherus,  his  successor,  governed  the  Church  only 
one  month  and  ten  days.  St.  Fabian  governed  it  sixteen 
years,  and  died  a  glorious  martyr  in  the  persecution  of 
Decius,  as  St.  Cyprian  and  St.  Jerom  witness.  The 
Apostolic  see  remained  vacant  above  sixteen  months,  the 
clergy  and  people  not  being  able,  all  that  time,  through  |j 
the  violence  of  the  persecution,  to  assemble  for  the  elec-  (I 


CHURCH    OP    CHRIST.  93 

tion  of  a  Bishop.  St.  Cyprian  says,  tliat  such  was  the 
rage  of  Decius,  that  he  would  more  easily  have  suffered 
a  competitor  in  his  empire  than  a  Bishop  in  Rome.  At 
length,  however,  when  that  emperor  was  at  a  distance 
engaged  in  a  war  with  the  Goths,  in  Thrace,  where  he 
perished  in  a  bog,  Cornelius,  who  had  the  chief  share  in 
the  direction  of  affairs,  in  the  Roman  Church,  during  the 
vacancy,  was  elected  Pope,  in  the  year  250,  by  almost 
all  the  clergy  of  Rome  and  a  great  number  of  the  laity, 
Mrith  the  concurring  suffrages  of  sixteen  ancient  and  wor- 
^^^y  Bishops,  who  were  then  present.  St.  Cyprian  ex- 
teediiigly  exiols  the  zeal  and  piety  with  which  St.  Corne- 
lius behaved  in  his  pastoral  charge,  and  the  courage  and 
steadfastness,  with  which  he  adhei>ed  to  his  duty  in  the 
most  perilious  times.  He  assembled  at  Rome  a  Synod  of 
sixty  Bishops,  in  which  he  confirmed  the  Canons,  by  which 
■■k  was  ordained  to  admit  the  lapsed  that  were  penitent  to 
public  penance  ;  and  Bishops  and  Priests  who  had  fallen 
only  to  the  rank  of  laymen,  without  power  of  exercising 
ny  sacerdotal  function.  Novatian,  who  was  there  pre- 
ent,  and  obstinately  refused  to  communicate  with  such 
penitents,  was  excommunicated,  and  several  persons,  who 
had  been  seduced  by  him  to  favour  his  schism,  repented 
and  were  received  to  communion  by  St.  Cornelius,  to  the 
great  joy  of  the  people. 

This  Novatian  had  been  a  Stoic  philosopher,  and  had 
gained  a  considerable  reputation  by  his  eloquence.  Hav- 
ing embraced  the  faith,  he  continued  a  catechumen,  till 
falling  dangerously  ill,  and  his  life  being  despaired  of,  he 
as  baptized  in  bed,  not  by  immersion,  which  was  then 
the  most  usual  method,  but  by  infusion,  or  the  pouring 
n  of  water.  On  recovering,  he  received  not  the  seal  of 
the  Lord,  by  the  hand  of  the  Bishop,  says  St.  Pacian,  that 
is  to  say,  the  sacrament  of  Confirmation.  Both  these 
defects  were,  by  the  ancient  discipline  of  the  Church, 
bar>  to  Holy  Orders.  The  Clinici^  or  persons  who  had 
been  baptized  in  bed  in  the  time  of  sickness,  were  de~ 
lared  irregular,  and  excluded  from  the  priesthood  ;  not 
as  if  such  a  baptism  was  defective,  but  in  detestation  of 
the  sloth  and  lukewarmness  by  which  such  persons  put 
off  their  baptism  till  they  were  in  immediate  danger  of 
death. — Novatian,  notwithstanding  this  double  irregulari- 
ty, was  afterwards  ordained  Priest,  and  with  a  view  to 


mi 


m 


^4  HiSfrORY   OF   THE 

make  himself  conspicuous,  he  opposed  the  pastors  of  the 
Church,  complaining,  that  by  a  criminal  relaxation  of  the 
law  of  the  Gospel,  they  too  easily  admitted  again  those 
who  had  fallen  in  the  persecution.  By  this  rigour  and 
Pharisaical  zeal  he  made  an  open  schism,  pretending,  #iat 
the  lapsed  ought  never  to  be  again  admitted  to  penance, 
or  to  receive  absolution,  not  even  after  having  performed 
any  course  of  penance,  or  in  the  article  of  their  death. 
On  account  of  his  errors,  he  is  called  by  St.  Cyprian,  Ep. 
57.  a  deserter  of  the  Church,  an  enemy  to  all  tenderness, 
a  very  murderer  of  penance,  a  teacher  of  pride,  a  cor- 
rupter of  the  truth,  and  a  destroyer  of  charity.  At  length 
he  added  heresy  to  his  schism,  and  maintained,  that  the 
Church  had  not  received  from  Christ  power  to  absolve 
sinners  from  the  crime  of  apostacy,  how  penitent  soever 
they  might  be.  His  followers  and  disciples,  who  were 
called  Novatians,  and  Cathari,  that  is,  pure,  taught  the 
same  of  murder  and  fornication,  and  condemned  second 
marriages.  Novatian  gained  over  to  his  party  some  con- 
fessors, who  were  in  prison  at  Rome,  and  decoyed  three 
Bishops  from  a  corner  of  Italy  to  come  to  Rome  and  or- 
dain him  Bishop  of  that  city,  in  opposition  to  the  holy " 
Pope  Cornelius,  who  was  sent  into  banishment  by  the 
Emperor  Gallus  to  Centumcellae,  now  called  Clvita  Vec- 
chia.  St.  Cyprian  wrote  him  a  congratulatory  letter 
upon  the  news  of  his  happiness,  in  suffering  for  Christ, 
and  in  it  he  foretold  his  own  approaching  conflicts  and 
martyrdom. 

St.  Cornelius  being  called  to  eternal  bliss,  in  the  year 
252,  St  Lucius  was  elected,  and  he  suffered  a  glorious 
martyrdom  about  five  months  after  his  election,  as  St. 
Cyprian  assures  us.  St.  Lucius  having  recommended 
St.  Stephen  for  his  successor,  he  was  accordingly  chosen 
Pope,  on  the  third  of  May,  in  the  year  253.  The  contro- 
versy concerning  the  re-baptization  of  heretics  gave  St. 
Stephen  much  trouble.  It  was  the  constant  doctrine  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  that  baptism  given  in  the  name  of 
the  Three  persons  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  is  valid,  though 
it  be  conferred  by  an  heretic  ;  for  Christ  being  the  prin- 
cipal, though  invisible  minister,  in  the  administration  of 
the  sacraments,  though  both  faith  and  the  state  of  grace 
be  required  in  him  who  confers  any  sacrament,  not  to  in- 
cur the  guilt  of  sacrilege  •,  yet  neither  is  required  (qx 


CHURCH   Ot   CHRIST.  95 

the  validify.  St.  Cyprian,  Firmilian,  and  some  other 
African  prelates,  supported  the  contrary  opinion,  and 
falsely  imagined  this  to  be  a  point,  not  of  faith,  which 
is  every  where  invariable,  but  of  mere  discipline,  in 
which  every  church  might  be  allowed  to  follow  its  own 
rule  or  law.  St.  Stephen,  who  saw  the  danger  which 
threatened  the  Church  under  the  colour  of  zeal  for  its 
purity  and  unity,  and  an  aversion  from  heresy,  opposed 
himself  as  a  rampart  for  the  house  of  God,  declaring, 
that  no  innovation  is  to  be  allowe«i,  but  that  the  tradition 
of  the  Church,  derived  from  the  Apostles,  is  to  be  invio- 
lably maintained.  He  even  threatened  to  cut  off  the 
partisans  of  this  novelty  from  the  communion  of  the 
Church,  but  never  proceeded  to  pronounce  any  sentence 
against  them,  or  they  never  would  have  stood  out 
against  a  censure,  in  which  the  whole  Church  acquiesced. 
He  suffered  himself  patiently  to  be  traduced  as  a  favour- 
er of  heresy  in  approving  heretical  baptism,  and  was  in- 
sensible to  all  personal  injuries,  not  doubting  but  those 
great  men,  who  by  a  mistaken  zeal  were  led  astray, 
would,  when  the  heat  of  disputing  should  have  subsided, 
calmly  open  their  eyes  to  the  truth.  Thus  by  his  zeal 
he  preserved  the  integrity  of  faith,  and  by  his  forbearance 
he  saved  many  souls  from  the  danger  of  shipwreck.  He 
was  sensible,  that  the  rule  of  faith  admits  nothing  new,  but 
that  all  things  are  to  be  delivered  down  to  posterity,  with 
the  same  fidelity,  with  which  they  were  received,  and 
that  it  is  our  duty  to  make  our  own  imaginations  bend  te 
the  wisdom  of  those  that  went  before  us,  and  to  follow 
rehgion,  and  not  to  make  religion  follow  us.  What  then 
was  the  issue  of  this  grand  affair,  but  that  which  is  usual: 
Antiquity  kept  possession,  and  novelty  was  exploded. 

Upon  the  demise  of  St.  Stephen,  St.  Xystus  succeeded 
him  in  the  pontificate.  He  is  styled  by  St.  Cyprian  a 
peaceable  and  excellent  prelate.  He  suffered  martyr- 
dom in  the  year  258,  under  the  emperor  Valerian,  in  a 
cemetery,  for  the  Christians  in  the  times  of  persecution 
resorted  to  cemeteries  and  subterraneous  caverns  to  cele- 
brate the  divine  mysteries,  and  to  visit  out  of  devotion  the 
tombs  of  the  martyrs.  After  the  death  of  St.  Xystus,  or 
Sixtus,  through  the  violence  of  the  persecution,  the  holy 
see  continued  vacant  almost  a  year,  until  St.  Dionysiu? 
i^as  cl^osen  on  the  2d  of  July,  259.     He  was  emineat 


96  HISTORY   OP   THE 

for  his  learning,  and  for  his  charity  to  the  distressed  and 
indigent.  He  condemned  the  errors  of  Sabellius,  and 
confuted  the  blasphemies  of  Paul  of  Samosata. 

St.  Felix  succeeded  St.  Dionysius  in  the  government 
of  the  Church,  in  the  year  269.  Paul  of  Samosata,  the 
proud  Bishop  of  Antioch,  to  the  guilt  of  other  crimes 
added  that  of  heresy,  teaching  that  Christ  was  no  more 
than  a  mere  man,  in  whom  the  Divine  Word  dwelt,  by 
its  operation,  and  as  in  its  temple  ;  with  many  other  gross 
errors  concerning  the  capital  mysteries  of  the  Trinity  and 
Incarnation.  St.  Felix  wrote  on  this  occasion  a  learned 
ftpistle,  quoted  by  the  council  of  Ephesus,  and  clearly 
explained  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  whole  mystery  of 
he  Incarnation.  He  governed  the  Church  five  years,  and 
"•assed  to  glorious  eternity  in  the  year  274.  He  was  suc- 
:eeded  by  St.  Eutychian,  who  is  said  to  have  interred 
ivith  his  own  hands  no  less  than  342  martyrs  at  Rome. 
St.  Caius  succeeded  St.  Eutychian  in  the  apostolic  see,  in 
the  year  283,  and  sat  twelve  years,  four  months,  and 
seven  days.  The  ancient  pontificals  say  he  was  a  native 
of  Dalmatia,  and  related  to  the  emperor  Dioclesian.  He 
was  succeeded  by  St.  Mafcellinus,  in  the  year  296,  about 
the  time  that  Dioclesian  set  himself  up  for  a  deity,  and 
impiously  claimed  divine  honours.  St.  Theodoret  tells  us, 
that  in  those  stormy  times  of  persecution,  Marcellinus 
acquired  great  glory.  Petilian,  the  Donatish  Bishop,  ob- 
jected to  the  Catholics,  that  Marcellinus  had  sacrificed 
to  idols,  and  had  delivered  up  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  the 
persecutors  ;  and  that  Melchiades,  Marcellus,  and  Syl- 
vester, were  guilty  of  the  same  apostacy.  But  St.  Au- 
gustin  entirely  denied  the  charge,  which  was  a  mere  ca- 
lumny of  the  Donatists,  1.  contr.  Petil.  c.  16.  t.  9.  p.  541. 
Yet  upon  this  slander  some  others  built  another  fictitious 
history  of  his  repentance  in  a  pretended  council  of  Sinu- 
essa.     See  Pagi,  Orsi,  and  Tillemont,  ad  An.  303. 

St.  Caius  and  St.  Hippolytus  are  justly  ranked  among 
the  most  illustrious  Doctors,  who  flourished  in  the  third 
century.  They  were  both  disciples  of  Irenaeus.  St. 
Hippolytus  was  the  master  of  Origen.  St.  Jerom  calls 
him  a  most  holy  and  eloquent  man.  St.  Chrysostora 
styles  him  a  source  of  light,  a  faithful  witness,  a  most 
holy  Doctor,  and  a  man  full  of  sweetness  and  charity. 
Theodoret  styles  him  a  spiritual  fountain  in  the  Church. 


CHUKCH    OF    C»UIST.  97 

I A  collection  of  his  homilies  was  extant  in  I'heodoret's 
time.     He  wrote  comments  on  several  parts  of  the  Holy 

[Scriptures,  and  treatises  on  the  mysteries  of  the  Trinity 

land  incarnation,  on  the  divinity  of  the  Son  of  God,  on 
the  distinction  of  the  divine  and  human  nature  in  Christ, 
on  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  on  the  fast  of  Saturday, 
on  the  holy  Communion,  on  the  origin  of  good  and  evil. 
He  wrote  also  a  book  against  heresies,  particularly  against 
th€  errors  of  Noetus,  Marcian,  &.c. 

Minucius  Felix  seems  to  have  been  originally  an  Afri- 
can, though  he  lived  at  Rome,  and  there  pleaded  at  the 
bar,  with  great  reputation,  for  eloquence  and  probity. 
He  was  called  in  an  advanced  age  to  the  light  of  divine 
wisdom,  as  he  says,  and  he  had  humility  enough  to  de- 
spise the  rank  which  he  held  among  the  learned  and  the 
great  ones  in  the  world,  and  by  a  happy  violence,  to  em- 
brace the  doctrine  of  the  cross,  and  enter  heaven  in  the 
company  of  the  ignorant,  and  the  httle  ones,  says  St.  Eu- 
cherius.  Minucius  had  two  African  friends,  Cecilius  and 
Octavius,  who  were  joined  Avitli  him  in  a  course  of  the 
same  studies.  They  were  all  three  eminent  and  learned 
men  of  the  first  rank,  and  formed  together  a  triumvirate 
of  perfect  friendship.  Octavius  seems  to  have  had  the  glo- 
ry of  leading  the  way  ;  for  Minucius  says,  he  ran  before 
him  as  a  guide  ;  but  like  a  true  friend,  he  could  not  be 
content  or  happy  without  his  dear  Minucius.  He  gave 
himself  no  repose,  so  long  as  he  saw  his  friend,  his 
other  half,  remain  in  the  darkness  of  infidelity,  and  in 
the  shades  of  death.     Words  from  the  mouth  of  such  a 

ffriend,  drop  hke  honey  from  the  honey-comb,  whilst  from 
a  harsh  prophet,  whom  we  hate,  truth  itself  becomes  un- 
acceptable. Minucius,  therefore,  was  easily  prepared  to 
receive  the  impressions  of  virtue,  and  this  blessed  pair  be- 
came one  in  religion  as  well  as  in  friendship.  The  Chris- 
tian faith,  which  he  embraced,  far  from  abating,  served 
only  to  refine  and  perfect  their  mutual  affection,  and 
make  them  congratulate  each  other  upon  their  new  life, 
in  transports  of  holy  joy,  which  all  their  oratory  wanted 
words  to  express.  They  looked  back  on  their  past  sin- 
ful lives  with  sorrow,  and  could  relish  nothing  for  the  fu- 
ture, but  the  humihations  of  the  cross,  and  the  severities 
of  penance.  Racks  and  tortures  they  overlooked  with 
triumph,  both  turned  advocates  for  the  faith  of  d^-ist, 


98  HISTORY    OF    THE 

and  without  any  other  retaining  fee  than  the  reward  ol" 
their  charity,  and  the  expectation  of  a  happiness  heyond 
the  grave,   they  strenuously  pleaded  the  cause  of  their 
crucified  Redeemer.     The  two  illustrious  lawyers   and 
converts  seemed  now  to  want  nothing  themselves,  but 
they  were  extremely  desirous  to   make   Cecilius,  their 
third  friend,  a  happy  convert  like  themselves.     This  how- 
ever was  a  work  of  difficulty,   that  called  for  the  last  ef-' 
fort  of  their  piety  and  friendship.     Early  prejudices  from 
education  leave  a  tincture  upon  the  mind,  which  seldom 
wears  out   without  much  pains  and  ingenuity  ;  and  how 
supine  soever  such  a  conduct  is  in  matters  of  this  nature 
and  importance,  men  often  are  inclined  to  content  them- 
selves with  the  religion  of  their  parents,  almost  as  natu- 
rally as  they  take  up   with   their   language, — Cecilius, 
moreover,  was  a  man  of  the  world,  and  of  latitudinarian 
principles,   and  therefore  was  hardly  to  he  come  at  with 
argupient.     He  was  a  person  of  wit  and  abilities,  but  his 
own   idol,  and  a  great  lover  of  applause  and   pleasure. 
Hence  his   chief  religion  seems  to  have  been   to  serve 
himself.     To  complete  his  character,  the  philosophy  hfe 
had  imbibed  only  raised  his  vanity,  and  intoxicating  his 
head  with  conceit,   set  him  at  the  greatest  distance  from 
the  reach  of  argument.     But  notwithstanding  this  seem- 
ingly inaccessible  temper  of  mind,  we  find   Cecilius,  at 
length,  by  the  power  of  divine  grace,   made   a  glorious 
convert,  an  eminent  saint,  and,  in  all  probability,  the  con- 
verter of  the  great  St.  Cyprian.     Octavius  and  Minucius 
were  the  instruments  which  God  was  pleased  to  make  use 
of,  to  effect  this  great  work.     They   began  by  recom- 
mending it  to  God  by  their  fervent  prayers.     And  their 
victory  over  him  was  the  issue  of  a  conference,  the  sum 
of  which  Minucius  has  left  us  in  an  elegant  dialogue,  which 
he  entitled    Octavius,  in  honour  of  his   friend,  and  which 
for  parity  and  delicacy  of  the  Latin  language  is  not  equal- 
led by  any  Pagan  writers  of  that  age. 

Thasius  Cyprian,  the  son  of  one  of  the  principal  sena- 
tors of  Carthage,  tells  us,  that  he  lived  a  long  time  amidst 
the  Fasces,  which  were  the  Roman  emblems  of  the  su- 
preme magistracy,  but  he  dieplores  that  he  was  then  a 
slave  to  vice  and  evil  habits. — '*  I  lay  in  darkness,"  says 
he,  '^  and  I  floated  on  the  boisterous  sea  of  this  world,  a 
H  stranger   to  the  light,  and  uncertain  where  to  fi^  my 


CHURCH    OP    CHRIST.  99 

feet."  He  passed  the  greater  part  of  his  hfe  in  the 
study  of  philosophy  and  all  the  Hberal  arts  ;  and  made 
such  improvements  in  oratory  and  eloquence,  that  he  was 
hosen  public  professor  of  rhetoric  at  Carthage,  a  city 
inferior  to  none  but  Rome  for  the  number  of  its  inhabi- 
tants. He  was  upon  the  borders  of  old  age,  when  he 
was  rescued  from  the  darkness  of  Paganism  and  the  ser- 

(itude  of  vice.  Cecilius,  an  holy  Priest  of  Carthage, 
ms  the  happy  instrument,  in  the  hands  of  God,  of  his 
onversion  to  the  Christian  religion,  for  which  reason, 
;!^yprian  ever  after  reverenced  him  as  his  benefactor,  his 
ather,  and  guardian  angel,  and  to  express  this  gratitude 
would  from  that  time  be  called  Thascius  Cecilius  Cy- 
prian.    Pontius  informs  us,  that  he  applied  himself  with 

l^rreat  eagerness  to  the  lecture   of  the  holy  scriptures  ; 

jHind  finding  the  sacred  oracles  very  copious  in  the  com- 
mendation of  purity  and  continence,  he  made  a  resolution 
to  practise  these  virtues  for  the  more  easy  attainment  of 
true  perfection.  Soon  after  his  baptism  he  sold  his  whole 
estate,  and  gave  almost  all  the  money,  and  whatever  else 
he  possessed,  for  the  support  of  the  poor.  With  the 
study  of  the  holy  scriptures  St.  Cyprian  joined  that  of 
their  best  interpreters,  and  in  a  short  time  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  most  approved  ecclesiastical  writers. 
He  was  particularly  delighted  with  the  writings  of  his 
countryman  Tertullian,  scarce  passing  a  day  without 
reading  something  in  them,  and  when  he  called  for  them, 
used  to  say.  Reach  hither  my  Master,  as  St.  Jerom  relates. 
But  though  he  admired  his  genius,  and  the  variety  of  his 
learning,  he  was  upon  his  guard  not  to  imitate  any  of  his 
faults  or  errors.  St.  Cyprian  led  a  retired  penitential 
life,   and  made  such  a  progress  in  virtue,  that,  whilst  he 

IJpvas  yet  in  the  rank  of  the  Neophytes,  or  persons  lately 
baptized,  he  was  raised  to  the  priesthood  at  the  earnest  re- 
quest of  the  people  ;  his  exemplary  piety  and  extroardi- 
nary  merit  being  judged  a  sufficient  motive  for  dispensing 
in  the  rule  laid  down  by  St.  Paul  against  admitting  Neo- 
phytes to  holy  orders.  Within  less  than  a  year  after  he 
was  chosen  by  the  clergy  and  people  Bishop  of  Carthage, 
and  successor  to  Donatus,  and  was  consecrated  with  the 
unanimous  approbation  of  the  Bishops  of  the  province. 

^     In  the  discharge  of  the  episcopal  functions,  he   showed 

(     abundance  of  piety,  charity,  goodness,  and  courage,  mix- 


iOO  HISiORY    OF    THE 

ed  with  vigour  and  steadiness.     His  writings,  says  "St. 
Jerom,  shine  more  bright  than  the  sun.     When  the  cruel 
edicts  of  Decius  reached  Carthage,  in  the  year  250,  they 
weie  no  sooner  made  public,  but  the   idolaters,  in  a  kind 
of  sedition,  ran  to   the  market  place,   confusedly   crying 
eut,  Cyprian  to  the  lions,  Cypnan  to  the  wild  beasts.     But 
..Divine   Providence   vouchsafed  to   preserve  the  vigilant 
pastor,   that  by  his   active  zeal   and  authority  he   might 
support  and  comfort  his  flock,  maintain  discipline,  and  re- 
pair the  ruins  caused  by  the  persecution  that  raged,    lie 
encouraged   and  animated  the  coafessors  in  prison,  and 
took  care  that  priests,  in  turns,  should  visit  them,  and  ofl'er 
the  sacrifice  of  the  altar,   and  give  them  the  holy  com- 
munion every  day  in  their  dungeons  ;  for  he  said  :   "  We 
"  should  support  and  strengthen  them  with  the  body  and 
"  blood  of  Christ,  unless  we  would  leave  those  naked  and 
"  defenceless,  whom  we  are  exhorting  to  fight  our  Lord's 
"  battle.     The   design  of  the  Eucharist  being  to   be   a 
*'  defence  and  security  for  those   who  partake  of  it,  we 
^'  should  fortify  them,  whose  safety  we  are  concerned  for, 
"  with  the  armour  of  our  Lord's  banquet.     How  shall 
"  they  be  able  to  die  for  Christ .''     How  shall  we  fit  them 
*'  for    drinking   the   cup  of  martyrdom,   if   Vv  c   will  not 
^'  first  admit  them  to  the  cup  of  the  Lord  ?"  Epist.  57. 

According  to  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  in  St.  Cy- 
prian's days,  the  lapsed  sinners,  whether  Tharificaii  and 
Sarrijicati,  that  is,  apostates,  who  had  sacrificed  to  idols, 
or  luibellaticiy  who,  without  sacrificing,  had  purchased 
for  money  libels  and  certificates,  as  if  they  had  oifered 
sacrifices,  were  not  admitted  to  assist  at  the  holy  mys- 
teries, before  they  had  gone  through  a  most  rigorous 
course  of  public  penance,  consisting  of  four  degrees, 
and  of  several  years  continuance.  When,  during  this 
penitential  term,  absolution  was  given  in  danger  of  death, 
if  the  penitent  recovered  he  was  obliged  to  accompiish 
his  course  as  to  the  austerities  enjoined  him.  Relaxa- 
tions of  these  penances,  called  indulgences,  were  granted 
on  certain  extraordinary  occasions,  as  on  account  of  the 
uncommon  fervour  of  a  penitent,  or  on  occasion  of  a  new 
persecution.  It  was  also  customary  to  grant  indulgences 
to  penitents,  who  brought  tickets  from  some  martyr 
going  to  execution,  or  from  some  Confessor  in  prison  for 
the  faith,  containing  a  request  in  their  behalf,  which  the 


m 


CHURCH   OF    CHRIST.  lOl 

Bishop  and  his  clergy  examined  and  often  ratified.  This 
custom  at  length  degenerated  in  Africa  into  a  great 
abuse,  by  the  multitude  of  such  tickets,  which  were  often 
given  in  too  peremptory  terms,  and  without  examination 
or  discernment,  to  the  great  prejudice  of  souls,  and  the 
relaxation  of  the  discipline  of  the  Church.  Novatius, 
FeUcissimus,  and  five  other  turbulent  men,  formed  also  a 
schism  in  Carthage,  and  held  their  great  assemblies  upon 
a  mountain.  Novatus  received,  without  any  canonical 
penance,  all  apostates  that  desired  to  return  to  the  com- 
munion of  the  Church.  St.  Cyprian,  seeing  the  mischief 
that  threatened  his  flock,  severely  condemned  those 
buses,  and  exhorted  the  faithful  to  beware  of  being  mis- 
ed  by  the  schism,  which  he  calls  moA'e  dangerous  than 
the  persecutions  of  the  Pagans.  ^' 'iTlere  is,"  says  he, 
"  one  God,  and  one  Christ,  and  but  one  episcopal  chair 
'^  originally  founded  on  Peter,  by  our  Lord's  authority. 
"  There  cannot,  therefore,  be  erected  another  altar,  or 
"  another  priesthood.  Whatever  any  man  in  his  rage 
"  or  rashness  shall  appoint,  in  defiance  of  the  divine  in- 
"  stitution,  must  be  a  spurious,  profane,  and  sacrilegious 
"  ordinance,"  Epist.  43  ;  and  in  Epist.  11.  he  complains, 
*'  that  by  the  recommendation  of  the  Confessors,  some 
*'  Priests  had  presumed  to  make  oblations  for  the  lapsed, 
*^  and  to  admit  them  to  the  holy  Eucharist,  that  is,  in- 
*'  deed,  to  profane  the  body  of  our  Lord. — And  as  a 
"  further  aggravation,  says  he,  they  have  admitted  those 
'^  sinners  to  communion  before  any  submission  made  by 
*'  them  to  penitential  discipline,  before  any  confession 
^^  made  of  their  heinous  and  crying  sin,  and  before  any 
"  imposition  of  hands  made  by  the  Bishop  and  his  clergy 
"*  unto  penance — Such  priests,  instead  of  approving 
"  themselves  true  shepherds  of  the  sheep,  become  as 
*'  bad  to  them  as  butchers  and  murderers.  For  a  mis- 
*'  chievous  condescension  is  in  eflfect  a  cheat,  nor  are 
"  those  who  have  fallen,  raised  by  such  helps,  but  ra- 
"  ther  cast  down,  and  pushed  upon  destruction." 

In  his  16th  Epistle,  he  threatens  to  restrain  from  of- 
fering, or  to  suspend,  some  of  the  priests,  who,  forgetting 
the  rules  of  the  Gospel,  as  well  as  the  rank  they  hold  in 
the  Church,  rashly  and  hastily  admitted  penitents  to 
Communion,  though  they  had  not  performed  their  pe- 
nance, made  no  humble  confession  of  their  sin,  nor  receiv- 
I  2 


102  HISTORY   OF   THE 

ed  the  imposition  of  hands  from  the  Bishop  and  his  cler- 
gy ;  the  holy  Eucharist  is  administered  to  them,  in  defi- 
ance of  the  Scripture,  which  saith  :  Whoever  shall  eat  or 
drink  unworthily^  shall  be  guilty  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the 
Lord.  1  Cor.  11.  27.  Of  such  prj^sts  he  says,  Ep.  34. 
**  Let  them  be  suspended  from  their  monthly  dividend  ;" 
for  the  revenues  of  the  clergy  then  consisted  chiefly  of 
the  oblations  of  the  faithful,  which  were  divided  every 
month  into  four  parts,  one  of  which  was  assigned  to  the 
Bishop,  and  one  to  his  clergy.  The  other  two  parts  were 
allowed  to  the  poor,  and  the  expenses  of  the  oratories  on 
churches.  Ep.  39. 

In  his  book  On  the  Lapsed^  he  bitterly  deplores  the  la- 
mentable fall  of  apostates,  and  says,  his  very  bowels  were 
i'ent  with  a  gr%ei  iwhich  no  words  could  express,  and 
which  admitted  no  alleviation  but  that  of  tears  and  sighs. 
He  expatiates  on  the  gf  ievousness  of  the  crime  of  apos- 
tacy,  and  on  the  remedies  of  it,  and  inveighs  against  a 
rash,  hasty  absolution,  and  pretended  reconciliation.  ''  He 
*'  would,"  says  this  holy  doctor,  "  betray  a  great  igno- 
*'  ranee  of  his  profession,  who,  for  fear  of  putting  his 
"  patient  to  pain,  by  opening  his  wound,  should  softly 
"  handle  it,  skin  it  over,  and  close  it  up,  not  cleansing  it 
"  of  the  corruption  lodged  in  it  ;  for  by  such  unskilful 
"  management,  the  malignity  would  take  deep  root, 
*'  and  taint  the  whole  mass.  The  wound,  in  all  such 
"  cases,  must  be  opened,  the  knife  must  not  be  spared, 
*'  all  guperfluities  must  be  pared  away,  without  regard  to 
*'  the  pain  occasioned  by  so  sharp  a  treatment.  If  the 
*^  patient  complains  and  cries  out  for  the  present,  he  will 
*^  afterward  thank  the  operator,  when  he  finds  his  re- 
*'  covery  has  been  owing  to  such  a  treatment — A  delusive 
*'  absolution  is  given  at  random,  dangerous  to  the  givers, 
"  useless  to  the  receivers.  Coming  fresh  from  the  altar 
•'  of  the  Devil,  their  hands  yet  reeking  with  the  blood  of 
"  the  sacrifices  offered  thereon,  they  would  fain  approach 
"  the  highest  mysteries — in  spite  of  these  divine  admo- 
"  nitions,  violence  is  offered  to  the  body  and  blood  of 
"Christ — they  who  dispense  it  to  them,  resemble  unskil- 
*'  ful  pilots,  who  instead  of  conducting  their  vessel  safe 
"  into  the  harbour,  split  it  upon  the  rocks." 

The  zealous  pastor  then  shows,  "  that  penitents  de- 
■*'  ccive  themselves,  who  think  that  a  reconciliation  can  b^ 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  103 

*^  given  them  before  ihey  have  expiated  their  crime  by 
-"  penance,  and  purified  their  conscience  by  imposition  of 
^'  hands  from  the  Bishop."  To  strike  a  terror  into  sin- 
ners, he  relates  several  examples  of  persons  severely 
punished  by  God,  in  a  miraculous  manner,  for  being  so 
bold  as  to  receive  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  before 
they  Iiad  done  condign  penance.  He  adds  a  strong  ex- 
hortation to  penance,  and  says,  ^'  that  some  among  the 
"  faithful,  because  they  had  once  sinned  only  in  thought 
"  and  purpose,  confessed  this  with  much  grief  to  the 
"  priests  of  God,  doing  severe  penance,  imburdening  their 
"  consciences,  and  seeking  a  healtky  remedy  for  their 
'^  wounds,"  which  is  a  proof  of  the  esteem  they  had  for 
voluntary  confession,  as  no  one  could  have  called  them 
to  an  account  for  their  sinful  thoughts,  if  they  had  not  of 
their  own  accord  declared  them.  He  then  repeats  his 
pressing  solicitations  to  sinners.  "  Let  every  oite  of  you 
"  make  an  humble  and  solemn  confession  of  his  sin,  whilst 
**  he  is  yet  in  the  world,  whilst  his  confession  can  be  ad- 
"  mitted,  whilst  his  satisfaction  and  the  pardon  given  him 
'^  by  the  Priests  are  available  with  God." 

In  his  discourse  on  the  Lord^s  Prayer,  he  takes  no- 
tice that  the  Priest,  in  the  preface  of  the  celebration  of 
the  Eucharist,  said  Sursmn  corda,  "  Lift  up  your  htarts;^^ 
and  that  the  people  answered,  TVe  lift  them  up  to  the 
Lord. 

In  this  book  On  the  Mortcdity,  "  or  pestilence,"  he  shows 
^'  that  true  servants  of  God  ought  to  rejoice  in  calami- 
"  ties,  because  they  afford  opportunities  to  exercise  pa- 
"  tience  and  all  heroic  virtues,  and  to  merit  Heaven. 
"  As  for  death,  no  man,"  says  he,  "  can  be  afraid  of  it, 
"  but  he  who  is  loath  to  go  to  Christ."  He  strongly  ex- 
horts all  Christians  to  wish  heartily  for  the  happy  hour 
of  their  death,  "  as  it  will  be  their  passage  to  the  glory 
"  of  Heaven,  their  admission  into  the  kingdom  of  divine 
"  love,  and  into  the  glorious  society  of  angels  and  saints." 

In  his  book  On  the  Habit  of  Viro^ins,  he  wonderfully 
extols  the  sanctity  of  their  state,  and  severely  condemns 
all  painting  of  the  hair  or  face,  which  disguises,  and  pre- 
tends to  mend  the  workmanship  of  God,  and  all  allure- 
ments of  dress,  by  which  those  whose  modesty  is  cheap 
draw  the  eyes  of  others  after  them,  and  ruin  their  souls. 
The  more  curious,  he  says,  persons  are  in  setting  off 


104  HISTORY   OF   THE 

their  bodies,  the  more  careless  they  grow  as  to  the  or- 
naments of  their  minds. 

In  his  book  on  The  Unity  of  the  Church,  he  demon- 
strates the  Church  of  Christ  to  be  essentially  One,  and 
says,  ^'  that  Christ  built  his  Church  upon  St.  Peter,  and 
"  gave  the  power  of  the  keys  to  him  ;  aild  though  he 
"  also  gave  the  same  power  to  all  his  Apostles,  he  would 
**  have  it  take  its  rise  from  one,  and  settled  the  whole  upon 
**  that  foundation."  The  holy  doctor  says  also,  in  the  same 
book,  ^'  He  cannot  ever  attain  the  recompense  propound- 
"  ed  by  Christ  to  his  followers,  who  deserts  his  Church. 
*^  He  becomes  thence  unsanctified,  an  alien,  and  a  down- 
"  right  enemy.  He  cannot  have  God  for  his  father,  who 
*^  hath  not  the  Church  for  his  mother.  Could  any  one 
"  escape  who  was  not  with  Noah  in  the  Ark  ?  What- 
**  ever  shall  be  separated  from  the  fountain  of  life,  can 
"  have  no  life  remaining  in  it,  after  having  lost  all  com- 
"  munication  with  its  vital  principle." 

His  treatise  on  Alms  and  Good  TVorJcs,  is  a  moving 
exhortation  to  alms-deeds  and  works  of  mercy,  as  com- 
manded in  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  as  the  means  to  obtain 
the  divine  mercy.  He  teaches  us,  that  all  that  is  su- 
perjiiious  is  due  to  the  poor.  *'  Let  the  necessitous,"  says 
he,  "  be  sensible  of  your  abundance  ;  put  your  money  to 
**  God,  who  will  repay  3'our  loans  with  interest  ;  feed 
*^your  Redeemer  in  his  destitute  and  hungry  members  ; 
**  engage,  by  your  treasure  many  solicitors  at  the  throne 
"of  grace,"  &.c.  In  fine,  in  a  council  of  61  Bishops,  as- 
sembled in  Carthage,  in  the  year  253,  he  supported  the 
necessity  of  infant  baptism  ;  and  in  his  other  writings  he 
shows  that  it  was  always  the  behef  of  the  Church, 
that  the  saints  in  Heaven  intercede  for  us  before  God — 
that  it  was  customary  to  mention  the  names  of  the  faith- 
ful departed,  at  the  altar,  and  to  make  an  oblation  for 
their  repose  after  their  death,  at  the  Eucharist  or  the 
Mass.  He  mentions,  also,  the  use  of  the  cross  at  bap- 
tism, and  says,  that  a  Christian  is  fortified  by  the  defen- 
sive sign  of  the  cross — 1.  2.  Testim.  His  zeal  was  inde- 
fatigable in  exhorting  the  confessors,  and  in  procuring 
them  all  possible  succour.  He  was  careful  in  devoutly 
honouring  the  memory  of  the  martyrs,  after  their  tri- 
umphs, by  sacrifices  of  thanksgiving  to  God  on  their  an- 
nual festivals  ;  "  We  offer  up,"  says  he,  "  the  usual  ga- 


CMURCfl    QF    CHRIST.  105 

'*  crifices  and  oblations  in  commemoration  of  them."  As 
♦o  the  dispute  which  he  carried  on  with  a  degree  of 
warmth  with  St.  Stephen,  St,  Augustine  says,  that  his 
fault  was  compensated  by  the  abundance  of  his  charity, 
and  purified  by  the  axe  of  his  passion,  for  St.  Cyprian 
was  beheaded  for  the  faith,  on  the  14th  of  September,  in 
the  year  258. 

St.  Gregory,  surnamed  Tlimimatnrgus,  or  worker  of 
miracles,  on  account  of  his  extraordinary  miracles,  and 
his  brother,  Athenorus,  were  disciples  of  the  great 
Origen.  They  were  both  converted  from  Paganism  to 
Christianity,  and  raised  to  the  episcopal  dignity  with  the 
usual  ceremonies.  St.  Gregory  was  cocsecrated  Bishop 
of  Neocaesarea,  in  Pontus.  He  committed  to  writing  the 
famous  Creed,  or  rule  of  faith,  concerning  the  mystery 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  which  is  extant  in  his  works.  He 
also  wrote  a  canonical  epistle,  which  holds  an  erainent 
rank  among  the  penitential  canons  of  the  Church,  and 
1^  which  he  mentioned  the  four  distinct  classes  of  peni- 
tents. He  and  his  brother  are  named  the  first  among 
the  subscribers  to  the  council  thjit  was  held  at  Antioch, 
in  the  year  264,  to  condemn  the  heresies  broached  by 
Paul  of  Samosata,  one  of  the  most  haughty  and  vain  of 
mortals,  who  had  caused  hymns  in  his  own  praise  to  be 
simg  in  the  Church. 

St.  Dionysius,  Archbishop  of  Alexandria,  is  called,  by 
St.  Athanasius,  the  doctor  of  the  Cathohc  Church.    Being 
born  of  Heathen  parents,  but  of  high  rank  in  the  world, 
he  was  educated  at  Alexandria,  then  the  centre    of  the 
sciences,  and  ran  through  the  whole  circle    of  profane 
learning.     Falling    at   length  upon    the    Epistles    of  St. 
Paul,  he  found  in  them   charms  which  he   had  not  met 
[  with  in  the  writings  of  the  Philosophers,  and  opening  his 
I  heart  to  the  truth,  and  turning  it  perfectly  to  God,  he  re- 
[  nounced  the  errors  qf  idolatry,  and  trampled   under  his 
feet  all  the  glory  and  applause  of  the  world.     He  became 
;  an  humble  scholar  in  the  catechetical  school  of  Origen, 
and  made  such  progress,  that  he  was  ordained  Priest,  and 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Alexandria.     When  the  sanguinary 
edict  of  Decius  reached  Alexandria,  in  the  year  250,  St. 
Dionysius  was  particularly  active  in  arming  and  prepar- 
ing  the  faithful  for  the  combat.     He  wrote  two  books 
•igainst  the  Millenarians,  and  persuaded  several  to  forsake 


106  HISTORY    OF   THE 

the  Novitian  schism.  He  condemned  the  blasphemies 
of  Sabellius,  in  a  council  at  Alexandria,  and  strenuously 
defended  the  real  distinction  of  the  three  Divine  Persons. 
The  loss  of  his  works  is  extremely  regretted,  for  of  them 
nothing  has  reached  us,  except  some  fragments  quoted 
by  others,  and  his  Canonical  Epistle,  wherein  he  men- 
tions the  austere  manner  in  which  the  fjiithful  then  fasted 
the  Lent  before  Easter,  and  inculcates  the  great  purity, 
both  in  mind  and  body,  that  is  required  in  all  who  ap- 
proach the  Holy  Table,  and  receive  the  body  and  blood 
of  our  Lord. 

St.  Victorinus  is  styled,  by  St.  Jerom,  one  of  the  pil- 
lars of  the  Church.  He  wrote  against  most  heresies  of 
that  age,  and  comments  on  a  great  part  of  the  holy 
Scriptures ;  but  all  his  works  are  lost,  except  a  small 
treatise  on  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  a  treatise  on 
the  Apocalypse,  extant  in  the  library  of  the  Fathers. 

Origen  was  the  eldest  son  of  Leonides,  a  Christian 
philosopher  at  Alexandria,  who  brought  him  up  with  great 
care,  returning  thanks  to  God  for  having  blessed  him  v^•ith 
a  son  of  such  an  excellent  disposition  for  learning,  and  a 
very  great  zeal  for  piety.  These  qualifications  endeared 
him  greatly  to  his  father,  who,  after  his  son  was  baptized, 
would  come  to  his  bedside,  whilst  he  was  asleep,  and 
opening  his  bosom,  kiss  it  respectfully,  as  being  the  tem- 
ple of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Origen  became  a  scholar  first 
of  St.  Clement,  then  regent  of  the  famous  catechetical 
school  in  Alexandria,  and  afterward  a  scholar  of  the  ce- 
lebrated philosopher,  Ammonius  Saccas.  When  the  per- 
secution raged  in  Egypt,  in  the  tenth  year  of  Severus, 
Leonides  was  cast  into  prison.  Origen,  who  was  then  only 
seventeefi  years  of  age,  burned  with  an  incredible  desire 
of  martyrdom,  and  sought  every  opportunity  of  meeting 
with  it :  but  his  mother  conjured  him  not  to  forsake  her, 
and,  seeing  his  ardour  redoubled  at  the  sight  of  his  fa- 
therms  chains,  was  forced  to  lock  up  his  clothes  to  oblige 
him  to  stay  at  home  ;  so,  not  being  able  to  do  any  more, 
he  wrote  a  letter  to  his  father,  in  very  moving  terms, 
strongly  exhorting  him  to  look  on  the  crown  of  glory  that 
was  ofiered  him,  with  courage  and  joy,  adding  this  clause, 
<*  Take  heed.  Sir,  that,  for  our  sakes,  you  do  not  change 
**  your  mind."  Leonides  was  accordingly  beheaded  for 
the  faith  in  the  year  202.     His  estates  and  goods  being 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  107 

ail  conijscated  and  seized  for  the  Emperor''s  use,  his  wi- 
dow was  left  with  seven  sons  to  maintain,  in  the  poorest 
condition  imaginable:  but  Divine  Providence  was  both 
her  comfort  and  support. 

Origen,  being  reduced  to  extreme  poverty  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  was  relieved  by  the  liberality  of  a 
rich  lady  of  Alexandria.  He  made  such  improvements  in 
all  sorts  of  learning,  that  he  was  regarded  as  a  prodigy, 
for  his  genius  and  extensive  knowledge.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  years  he  was  appointed  by  Demetrius,  the  Bi- 
shop, to  preside  in  the  great  school  of  Alexandria,  where  he 
was  soon  followed,  consulted,  and  respected  by  a  number 
of  disciples,  who  after  being  with  the  greatest  masters  in 
the  world,  were  thereby  only  qualified  to  become  his 
scholars  and  to  crowd  to  his  lectures.  From  his  school, 
innumerable  doctors,  priests,  confessors,  and  martyrs 
came  forth.  He  seemed  scarce  ever  to  cease  from  ap- 
plication, or  to  know  any  difference,  as  to  repose,  be- 
tween day  and  night.  Besides  his  public  lectures,  the  fa- 
tigue of  which  was  enough  to  kill  another  person,  he  dic- 
tated to  seven  Amanuenses.  He  led  a  most  austere  life, 
walking  almost  barefooted,  sleeping  upon  the  bare  ground, 
watching  much,  besides  fasting  often.  He  abstained 
from  flesh  meat,  and  during  many  years  from  wine,  till 
the  weakness  of  his  breast  obliged  him  to  mingle  a  little 
with  his  water.  He  is  said  to  have  writen  six  thousand 
volumes,  but  by  blending  the  Platonic  philosophy  with 
i.he  Christian  theology,  he  fell  into  some  errors,  that 
were  condemned  in  the  fifth  general  council,  though  he 
never,  as  long  as  he  lived,  withdrew  himself  from  the 
<I'hurch.  The  most  celebrated  work  he  wrote  is  his 
Apology  for  the  Christian  Religion,  published  in  the  year 
£!49,  against  Celsus,  the  Epicurean  philosopher,  who  lived 
in  the  reign  of  Adrian,  and  who  was  the  most  formidable 
adversary  that  ever  attacked,  in  writing,  the  Christian 
Religion.  Porphyrins  the  Tyrian  philosopher  ;  Hiero- 
cles  ;  and  Julian,  the  Apostate,  wrote,  indeed,  against  it 
many  bitter  invectives,  ludicrous  cavils,  and  slanders, 
supported  only  by  an  extravagant  sophistry,  that  visibly 
betrays  the  weakness  of  infidelity,  and  strengthens  the 
cause  of  truth,  as  St.  Eusebius  of  Cassarea,  St.  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  and  St.  Cyril,  have  clearly  demonstrated. 
But  of  all  the  writers  against  Christianity,  Celsus  was 


108  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  most  crafty  and  subtle,  for  he  wrote  with  the  most 
refined  fallacy  that  sophistry  could  invent,  with  an  air 
of  positiveness  to  in\pose  upon  the  vulgar,  and  with  all  the 
advantages  that  wit  and  raillery  could  give.  He  was  also 
master  of  all  the  difficulties  that  an  extensive  knowledge, 
seconded  by  artifice  and  management,  could  object.  On 
the  other  side,  Origen,  with  all  the  sense  and  solidity  of 
right  reason,  reduces  every  argument  to  its  true  prin- 
ciples, follows  his  adversary  step  by  step,  convicts  him 
of  falsehood  in  point  of  fact,  refutes  all  his  calumnies, 
sets  in  the  true  light  things  which  his  adversary  disguised 
or  smothered,  and  established  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
rehgion  by  the  evidence  of  facts  and  of  its  history.  Eu- 
sebius  and  St.  Jerom  say,  that  all  objections  that  ever 
were,  or  can  be  made  to  Christianity,  will  find  an  answer 
in  this  work. 

Arnobius  was  a  native  of  Sicca,  in  Africa,  and  a  cele- 
brated rhetorician,  about  the  close  of  the  third  century. 
From  a  most  fiery  stickler  for  idolatry,  he  became  an  il- 
lustrious champion  for  Christianity,  being  compelled,  by 
heavenly  admonitions,  to  acknowledge  the  evidence  of 
divine  Revelation,  as  St.  Jerom  says.  Being  thus  mi- 
raculously converted,  like  another  Saul,  he  desired  bap- 
tism, but,  the  Bishop  of  Sicca,  considering  with  what 
fury  he  had  declaimed  against  the  Church,  before  he 
would  admit  him  to  the  laver  of  salvation,  required,  as  a 
condition,  that  he  should,  by  some  learned  work,  give  a 
public  testimony  to  the  truth,  which  he  had  so  violently 
combated.  The  sincere  convert,  impatient  to  attain  to 
the  desired  happiness,  wrote  his  seven  books  Against  the 
GeniileSy  whilst  a  novice  in  the  faith,  and  undoubtedly 
would  have  better  polished  his  style,  if  the  haste  with 
which  he  wrote  had  allowed  him  leisure  to  give  it  the  last 
finishing  strokes. 

Lectantius,  the  famous  Latin  author,  was  in  his  youth 
a  disciple  of  Arnobius,  at  Sicca,  and  was  converted  to  the 
faith  from  Idolatry.  His  writings  are  full  of  admirable 
precepts  of  morahty  which  he  enforces  with  invincible  elo- 
quence. But  after  his  conversion  his  pen  was  chiefly 
employed  in  overthrowing  Paganism,  which  he  confutes 
with  all  the  ardour  and  spirit  imaginable.  He  combats 
the  difierent  sects  of  the  Heathen  philosophers,  pursuing 
them  through  all  the  labyrinths  of  error  and  false  vjudg- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  109 

iiieul,  without  ever  losing  himself.  Having  exploded 
falsehood,  he  introduces  the  most  noble,  sublime,  and 
perfect  philosophy  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  which  alone 
satisfies  all  the  inquiries  of  human  reason,  wherein  all 
systems  of  philosophers  are  infinitely  deficient.  He 
relates  the  several  persecutions  which  the  Church  had 
suflered,  and  the  exemplary  puui^^hments  which  God  had 
iullicted  on  the  persecutors.  He  lolls  us,  that  as  the 
Emperor  Dioclesian  was  oflbrhig  sacrifice  at  Antioch, 
one  of  his  officers  made  on  his  forehead  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  and  thereupon,  to  the  great  trouble  of  the  Pagans, 
the  auspices  were  disturbed,  and  the  daemons  disappear- 
•d — de  Mort.  Persec.  c.  11. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  jive  last  general  Persecutions.  ^ 

THE  Emperor  Alexander,  surnamed  Sevenis,  cousrn 
german  and  successor  of  Heliogabalus,  was  one  of  the 
best  of  Princes.  Two  maxims,  which  he  learned  of  the 
Christians,  were  the  rules  by  which  he  endeavoured  to 
square  his  conduct:  The  first  was,  ''Do  to  all  men  as 
*•  you  would  have  others  do  to  you."  The  second,  that 
all  places  of  command  are  to  be  bestowed  on  those  wh<5 
are  the  best  qualified  for  them.  He  forbade  the  sale  of 
employments,  saying,  ''  He  fhat  buys  must  sell."  He 
kept  the  soldiers  in  awe  by  regular  pay,  and  gave  salaries 
out  of  the  treasury  to  the  rulers  of  provinces,  that  they 
might  not  be  a  burden  to  the  people.  It  was  in  his  peace- 
able reign  that  the  Christians  first  began  to  build 
churches,  which  were  demolished  in  the  succeeding  per- 
secution. Julius  Maxi minus,  having  opened  to  himself  a 
way  to  the  imperial  throne,  by  contriving  the  assassination 
of  the  best  of  the  Roman  emperors,  began  his  reign  by  rais- 
ing the  sixth  general  persecution  against  the  Church,  in 
the  year  235.  He  was  originally  a  shepherd  of  mean  ex- 
traction from  Thrace,  and  a  man  of  fierce  manners  and 
gigantic  stature,  and  a  monster  of  gluttony:  he  eat  fifty 
pounds  of  meat  in  a  day,  and  was  so  strong,  that  he  couM 
tfear  up  trees  by  the  roots  with  his  han4s,  ^s  historians  as- 
K 


no  HISTORY    OF   THE 

sure  us.  When  emperor,  he  put  to  death  liis  nio&t 
ancient  friends,  who  could  give  an  account  of  his  origin. 
Capitolinus  says  of  him,  "  That  never  did  a  more  cruel 
"  beast  tread  upon  the  earth."  He  raged  violently  agairist 
the  Christians,  particularly  the  bishops,  pastors,  and  teach- 
ers, having  ordered  some  to  be  crucified,  others  to  be  dress* 
ed  in  the  skins  of  beasts,  and  thus  to  be  exposed  to  wild 
animals  to  be  torn  in  pieces. 

After  the  death  of  Maximinus,  the  faitliful  enjoyed  the 
sweets  of  peace  for  several  years  ;  but  this  peace  and 
tranquilhty  occasioned,  conformably  to  the  bent  of  hu- 
man nature,  a  remissness  and  a  sensible  relaxation  in 
their  manners,  as  St.  Cyprian  complained.  It  enervated, 
in  many,  the  watchfulness  and  spirit  of  their  holy  pro- 
fession, and  opened  a  door  to  several  converts,  who,  when 
their  virtue  was  put  to  the  test,  had  not  courage  to  stand 
the  trial.  Nay,  the  virtue  of  some,  who  had  stood  the 
fiercest  persecutions,  began  to  melt  away  at  the  first  rays 
of  peace  and  prosperity:  so  dangerous  are  its  flattering 
blandishments.  Almighty  God,  therefore,  to  punish  their 
sloth  and  neglect,  and  to  revive  their  fervour,  was  pleased 
to  try  them  in  a  fiery  crucible,  and  to  permit  a  most  dread- 
ful storm  to  be  raised  against  the  Church,  in  the  j'ear 
'^49:  for  Decius  having  usurped  the  empire,  after  causing 
the  Emperor  Philip  to  be  killed  by  his  soldiers  at  Verona, 
began  his  reign  by  raising  the  seventh  general  persecu- 
tion, which  he  carried  on  with  the  utmost  cruelty  near 
three  years.  No  sooner  were  his  bloody  edicts  published, 
hut  the  Christians  were  immediately  driven  from  their 
houses,  and  stript  of  their  estates.  Whips  and  prisons, 
iires  and  wild  beasts,  scalded  pitch  and  melted  wax,  sharp 
stakes  and  burning  pincers,  were  the  ordinary  instru- 
ments used  for  their  torments.  Many  of  all  ages,  ranks, 
and  professions,  were  put  to  the  most  exquisite  tortures: 
They  were  scourged,  beaten,  racked,  and  roasted  ;  their 
flesh  was  pulled  off  with  burning  pincers,  and  their  sides 
burnt  with  torches.  Some  were  beheaded  with  swords, 
others  were  run  through  with  spears  ;  some  were  stretch- 
ed on  racks,  others  were  hung  up  with  weights  at  their  feet, 
and  tortured  in  this  posture  with  more  instruments  of  tor- 
ment than  their  bodies  had  limbs.  Multitudes  fled  into 
the  mountains,  woods,  and  deserts,  from  this  scene  of 
slaugUtet ;  of  this  number  was  St.  Paul,  the  eminent  An- 


oret,   who  is  styled  the  first  Hermit.     Others  sought 
r  refuge  in  the  catacombs  of  Rome  ;  others  concealed 
emsekes  in  subterraneous  caverns  and  dismal  retreats, 
here  they  either  perished  by  hunger  and  cold,  or  fell 
mto  the  hands  of  the  Saracens,  and  were  reduced  to   a 
ate  of  slavery  worse  than  death  itself.     Nicephorus,  the 
storian,  declares,   that  it  would  be  easier  to   count  the 
nds  of  the  sea,  than  to  reckon  up  all  the  martyrs  of 
is  persecution.     The  very  Pagans  themselves   beheld, 
ith  admiration,  these  heaveidy   conilicts,   and  stood  as- 
nished  at  their  meekness,  patience,  and  courage,  in  the 
midst  of  all  their  suflerings  ;  nay,  some  of  them  were  sd 
powerfully  overcome  by  their  example,  that  they  sudden- 
ly  declared  themselves  Christians,    and  sufiered  death 
with  joy  for  their  profession  ;  so  that  if  a  few  apostatized 
in  this  terrible  time   of  trial,  the  scandal  they  gave  was 

Rnply  repaired  by   the   wonderful   conversion  of  others, 
id  by  the  unconquerable  virtue,  constancy,  and  fidelity 
of  thousands,  v/ho  tired  out  their  tormentors,   smiling  at 
them  whilst  they  were   raking  in  their  wounds,  and  with 
shaken  souls   making  open  profession  of  Christ  under 
e  sharpest  engines  of  execution.     They  had  constantly 
efore  their  eyes  the  divine  pattern  of  their  Lord  and  Sa- 
vour, and  the  heavenly  recompense  which  awaited  them 
"ter  their  combats.     This  glorious  prospect  animated 
tlieir  courage,  and  sweetened    their  torments.     Inspired 
with  inward,  joy,  they  said  to  themselves:   Hie  sufferings 
of  this  time  are  not  ivorthy  to  he  compared   with  the  glory 
to  comey  that  shall  be  revealed  in  us.     Rom.  8.  18.     They 

Iongratulated  each  other  on  the  view  of  their  approach- 
ig  triumph,  saying,  as  St.  Cyprian  tells  us,  '^The  per- 
tsecutor  wrests  from  us  our  lands,  but  Heaven  is  opened 
[to  us  ;  the  enemy  of  Christ  threatens,  but  Christ  pro- 
tects us.  By  killing  us  they  deprive  us  of  this  world,  but 
^'  Paradise  is  offered  us  in  its  stead  ;  our  temporal  life  is 
*^  extinguished,  but  changed  into  eternal."  Decius  being- 
defeated  in  Thrace  by  the  Goths,  and  succeeded  by  Gal- 
lus,  the  general  of  the  army,  who  had  betrayed  him,  this 
volution  gave  some  short  respite  to  the  Christians,  but 
a  great  plague,  which  ravaged  several  provinces  of  the 
empire,  during  twelve  years,  beginning  in  the  year  250, 
alarmed  the  superstition  of  th6  new  emperor  so  much, 
that  he  commanded  sacrifice  every  where  to  be  niade  tt> 


ll'-l  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Apollo,  for  averting  that  scourge,  and  revived  the  pei'5:e- 
cution  of  Decius,  in  order  to  appease  the  anger  of  his 
false  gods,  by  spilling  the  blood  of  the  Christians.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  St.  Hippolytus  was  ordered  to  be  drag- 
ged and  torn  assunder  by  wild  horses,  at  Ostia,  where  he 
expired  uttering  these  words,  <'  Lord,  they  tear  my  body, 
''  receive  thou  my  soul."  About  the  same  time,  St. 
Cassian,  a  Christian  schoolmaster,  was  ordered  to  be 
slabbed  to  death  with  the  penknives  and  styles,  or  iron 
writing  pencils,  of  his  own  scholars.  Gallus  continued  to 
persecute  the  Christians,  until  he,  and  his  collea<jue, 
Volucianus,  were  slain  in  a  battle  at  Terni,  by  Emilia- 
uus,  in  the  year  254.  Three  months  aftea^  Emilianus 
being  killed  by  his  own  soldiers  near  Spoleto,  Valerian, 
who  commanded  the  army  in  Gaul,  got  possession  of  the 
Imperial  Throne,  and  for  some  time  gave  peace  to  the 
Church  ;  but  in  the  year  2j7  he  commenced  the  eighth 
general  persecution,  by  the  persuasion  and  artifice  of 
Macrianus,  an  Egyptian  magician,  who  advised  him  to 
suppress  Christianity,  thereby  to  render  tlie  gods  propi- 
tious, and  procure  prosperity  and  success  in  his  wars. 
Numbers  of  Christians  were  crowned  with  martyrdom  in 
consequence  of  the  cruel  edicts  published  by  this  empe- 
ror, and  executed  with  the  utmost  rigour  for  three  years 
and  a  half,  till  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Persians. 
The  chief  martyrs  who  suffered  in  his  reign  were  St. 
Stephen,  St.  Sixtus,  St.  Laurence,  St.  Cyprian,  St.  Felix 
of  Nola,  St.  Fructuosus,  St.  Saturninus,  St.  Marian,  with 
several  illustrious  confessors,  who  were  chained  and  im- 
prisoned, or  condemned  to  work  in  the  mines,  and  in  Cf£- 
sar's  farms.  St.  Augustine  informs  us,  that  in  the  per- 
secution of  Valerian,  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  Chris- 
tians, who  were  detained  in  the  prisons  of  Utica,  suffered 
a  glorious  martyrdom  there  on  the  same  day:  for  the  Pro- 
consul of  Africa  having  gone  from  Carthage  to  Utica,  and 
having  ordered  a  great  pit  of  burning  lime  to  be  pre- 
pared in  a  field,  and  by  it  an  altar  of  idols,  with  salt  and 
hog's  liver  placed  on  it,  ready  for  sacrifice,  he  caused  all 
the  aforesaid  prisoners  to  be  brought  before  him,  and  gave 
them  their  choice,  either  to  be  thrown  into  the  pit  of 
burning  lime,  or  to  offer  sacrifice  to  the  idols  which 
were  set  by  it.  They  unanimously  chose  the  first,  and 
w'^.i-e  all  consumed  together  in  the  furnace.     Their  ashes 


CHURCH    or    CHRIST.  113 

were  afterwards  taken  out  by  the  Christians,  and  as  they 
made  but  one  common  mass,  cemented  with  the  hme, 
these  martyrs  were  called  the  White  Mass,  Galienus,  the 
son  and  successor  of  Valerian,  restored  peace  to  the 
Church,  but  as  he  led  a  life  of  debauchery  and  supine 

Indolence,  he  became  odious  to  the  people,  and  was  mur- 
ered  in  the  year  268,  and  there  rose  up  no  less  than 
lirty  tyrants  together,  who   assumed  the  title  of  empe- 
ors,  and  tore    the  empire  to  pieces  by  factions  and  di- 
isions. 
Claudius  II.  the  successor  of  Galienus,  a  prince  of  mo- 
eration  and  wisdom,  continued  to  suspend  the  edicts  of 
former  persecutors  during  the  two  years  that  he  reigned. 
lie  was  surnamed  GothicuSy  on  accoinit  of  his  successful 
wars  against  the  Goths,  wherein  it  appears  that  320,000 
of  them  were  slain,  and  two  thousand  of  their  ships  were 
sunk.     After  his  death  the  Emperor  Aurelius  raised  the 
.plinth  general  persecution,  in  the  year  274.     It  is  said  of 
l^nim,  that  he  would  have  been   a  good  doctor,  if  he  haci 
not  taken  away  too  mu^h  blood.     The  principal  victims 
|Hent  to  Heaven  in  t^is  _persecution  were   St.  Felix,  vSt. 
^^Mamas   of  Caisarea,  SL    Agapetus,  St.  Savinianus,  St. 
I^polumba,  &.c. 

■"^  The  tenth  and  last  j^eneral  persecution  was  raised  by 
Dioclesian,  a  soldier  of  fortune,  and  a  man  of  mean  ex- 
traction, who  was  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  army  at 
Clhalcedon,  in  the  year  284,  the  emperor  of  Cams,  who 
bad  impiously  assumed  the  title  of  a  j2;od,  being  killed  by 
lightning,  and  his  son,  Numerianus  Augustus,  being  cut 
off  by  the  treachery  of  his  uncle,  Aper.  Dioclesian 
slew  Aper,  and  by  killing  him  accomplished  a  prediction 
which  had  formerly  been  delivered  in  his  favour,  that  he 
should  be   an    emperor   when  he    killed    an  Aper,    this 

^word  in  Latin  signifying  a  wild  boar.  The  following  year 
he  defeated  and  slew  Carinus,  the  second  son  of  Carus, 
and,  after  this  victory,  took  the  haughty  name  of  Jovius, 
from  Jupiter.  But  fmding  the  empire  too  unwieldy  a  body- 
to  govern  alone,  and  wishing,  at  the  same  time,  to  secure 
bimself  against  the  continual  treasons  of  the  soldiery,  es- 
pecially the  praetorian  guards,  who,  during  the  last  three 
hundred  years,  had  murdered  almost  all  their  emperors, 
he  chose  Maximian  for  his  partner  and  colleague  in  the 
empire,  and  honoured  hira  with  the  title  of  Augustus. 
K  2 


114  HISTORY  OF  The 

Maximian  assumed  also  the  surname  of  Hercideus,  from 
the  false  god  Hercules.  The  two  emperors  named  each 
an  emperor  of  an  inferior  rank,  under  the  title  of  Cwsars. 
Dioclesian  chose  Galerius  Maximian  for  the  East,  and 
Maximian  Herculeus  pitched  uponConstantiusChlorus  for 
the  West.  Dioclesian  usually  resided  in  the  East  at  Ni- 
comedia,  and  Galerius  occupied  Illyricum,  and  the  places 
adjacent  to  the  Euxine  Sea.  Maximian  Herculeus  re- 
served to  himself  the  rich  provinces  of  Italy,  Spain  and 
Africa,  and  Constantius  had  Gaul  and  Britain,  and  the 
countries  this  side  the  Alps.  The  first  years  of  the 
reign  of  Dioclesian  were  tolerably  favourable  to  the 
Christians,  though  several,  even  then,  suffered  martyrdom 
by  virtue  of  the  former  edicts,  and  by  the  natural  cruelty 
of  Maximian  Herculeus,  who  delighted  in  blood  ;  but  in 
the  beginning  of  the  year  302,  Galerius  prevailed  upon 
Dioclesian  to  form  a  project  utterly  to  extirpate  the 
Christian  name,  and  even  began,  by  his  own  authority, 
to  persecute  the  faithful  within  his  own  jurisdiction.  In 
order  to  stir  up  Dioclesian  the  more,  he  procured  some 
of  his  own  creatures  to  set  fire  to  the  imperial  palace  at 
Nicomedia,  that  the  Christians,  according  to  the  usual  per- 
verseuess  of  the  Heathens,  might  be  accused  of  it  ;  for, 
as  Tertullian  tells  us,  they  conceived  such  prejudice  and 
hatred  against  the  professors  of  Christianity,  that  every 
pubHc  calamity  and  misfortune  that  befel  the  government 
was  thrown  upon  them.  If  the  Temple  of  Daphnis  was 
consumed  by  lightning  from  Pleaven,  the  Christians  were 
slandered  and  condemned  as  the  incendiaries.  If  the 
Tiber  overflowed  ;  if  the  Nile  watered  not  the  plains  ; 
if  there  were  earthquakes,  famine,  or  plague,  they  would 
cry  out,  The  Clunstians  to  the  Jjions. 

Dioclesian,  not  suspecting  the  imposture,  gave  orders, 
that  all  his  domestics  and  dependents  should  be  cruelly 
tortured  in  his  presence,  to  oblige  them  to  confess  the 
supposed  guilt,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  for  the  criminals 
lay  concealed  among  the  domestics  of  Galerius,  who,  in  a 
fortnight  after,  caused  the  palace  to  be  set  on  fire,  and 
left  Nicomedia  the  same  day,  protesting  that  he  went 
away  through  fear  of  being  burnt  alive  by  the  Christians. 
The  fire  was  stopped  before  it  had  done  any  great  mis- 
chief, but  it  had  the  efiect  intended  by  the  author  of  it, 
for  Dioclftsian^  ascribing  it  to  the  Christians,  resolved  to 


CHURCH  OF  ohiust.  115 

Eeep  no  measures  with  them.  His  rage  and  resentment 
being  now  at  the  highest  pitch,  he  vented  them  with  the  ut- 
most cruelty  upon  the  innocent,  and  published  four  edicts, 
commanding  all  Christians  to  be  put  to  death  who  should 
refuse  to  renounce  their  faith,  or  to  sacrifice  to  the  idols  j 
for  the  Devil,  by  his  instruments,  sought  not  so  much  to 
destroy  the  bodies  of  the  servants  of  God  by  death,  as  their 
souls  by  sin.  The  first  victims  of  Dioclesian's  rage  were  the 
courtiers  of  his  palace,  the  presidents  of  his  councils,  the 
holy  Bishop  Anthimus,  and  the  clergy  of  Nicomedia, 
whom  he  ordered  to  be  seized,  loaded  with  chains,  and 
compelled  by  torments  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  which 
they  refusing  to  do,  they  were  beheaded,  with  all  the  per- 
sons belonging  to  their  families.  The  church  of  Nicome- 
dia was  levelled  with  the  ground,  the  whole  city  was  fill- 
ed with  desolation  and  slaughter,  and  all  the  books  of  the 
Scriptures  that  could  be  found  were  burnt.  Judges 
were  appointed  in  the  temples  to  condemn  to  immediate 
death  all  who  refused  to  sacrifice,  and  torments,  till  then 
unheard  of,  were  invented.  Altars  were  erected  in  the 
courts  of  justice  and  in  the  public  offices,  that  all  might 
be  obliged  to  offer  sacrifice  before  they  could  be  admit- 
ted to  plead.  Idols  were  set  up  in  the  market  places,  at 
the  corners  of  the  streets,  and  at  the  public  fountains,  that 
the  people  might  first  ofier  incense  to  them,  before  they 
could  be  suffered  to  buy  or  sell  any  thing,  to  grind  their 
corn,  to  draw  water,  or  transact  any  business.  Persons 
of  every  age  and  sex  were  burnt,  not  sinjfly  one  by  one, 
but,  on  accountof  their  numbers,  whole  companies  of  them 
were  burnt  together,  by  setting  fire  round  about  them  ; 
while  others,  being  tied  together  in  great  numbers,  were 
cast  into  the  sea.     Seventeen   thousand  Christians  were 

Passacred  in  one  single  day,  as  historians  relate. 
Dioclesian,  not  satisfied  with  all  these  cruelties,  had 
his  edicts  published  in  other  parts  of  the  empire,  and  or- 
dered all  the  churches  to  be  every  where  demolished,  the 
Scriptures  to  be  burnt,  the  Christians  to  be  declared  in- 
capable of  all  honours  and  employments,  to  be  deprived 
of  their  liberties  and  their  right  of  voting,  to  be  put  out 
of  the  protection  of  the  law,  and  not  to  be  allowed  either 
to  recover  debts,  or  to  sue  for  a  reparation  of  any  inju- 
ries or  damages  done  to  them,  whilst,  on  the  other  hand, 
all    actiajis  were  to  be    received  against    them.     The 


1 16  Mistoni'  OP  Tits 

bloody  edicts  were  sent  ironi  the  East  to  Maxiniian,  and 
to  Constantius  in  the  West.  The  former  willingly  obey- 
ed them,  but  Constantius  put  no  man  to  deatii  on  that 
account,  though  he  sufl'ered  the  churches  to  be  pulled 
down.  He  told  the  Christians  he  had  in  his  army  and 
household,  that  he  gave  them  their  choice,  either  to  sa- 
crifice, or  to  lose  their  posts.  Some  preferring  their  tem- 
poral interests  to  their  religion,  were  tempted  to  offer  sa- 
crifice, but  Constantius  despised  and  discharged  such 
apostates  from  his  service,  saying,  that  persons,  so  self- 
interested  and-  treacherous  to  their  God,  would  never  b^e 
faithful  to  him.  On  the  contrary,  those  who  continued 
steadfast  in  their  faith,  he  kept  near  his  person,  declaring 
them  worthy  to  be  entrusted  with  the  care  of  his  person 
and  empire.  In  the  interim,  his  eldest  son,  Constantine, 
was  kept  at  the  court  of  Dioclesian,  as  a  hostage  for  his 
father's  fidelity,  and  like  another  Moses,  was  brought  up 
amidst  the  enemies  of  truth,  whom  he  was  one  day  to 
extirpate. 

In  the  other  parts  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  persecu- 
tion was  carried  on  with  great  violence  by  Dioclesian, 
Galerius,  and  Maximian.  These  cruel  beasts,  says  Lac- 
tantius,  raged  every  where  from  East  to  West.  If  I  had 
a  hundred  tongues,  says  that  historian,  I  should  not  be 
able  to  recount  all  the  different  torments  that  were  em- 
ployed by  them  against  the  Christians,  The  barbarities 
they  exercised,  exceed  all  description.  They  deluged 
the  Roman  Empire  with  an  ocean  of  blood.  The  unheard 
of  torments  they  made  use  of  for  the  space  of  ten  years 
were  innumerable,  says  Eusebius. — Some  Christians  were 
broiled  to  death  on  grid-irons  and  frying  pans.  Some 
'were  squeezed  in  a  press,  until  their  veins,  sinews,  and 
fibres,  burst.  Some  were  hung  up  with  their  heads  down- 
wards, and  suffocated  by  slow  fires.  Some  were  slain  by 
breaking  their  legs  and  chopping  off  their  hands  and  feet. 
Some  were  sawed  in  two.  Some  had  their  eyes  and  teeth 
pulled  out.  Some  were  dipt  in  melting  lead  or  scalding 
oil.  Some  were  devoured  by  dogs,  bears,  lions,  and  other 
wild  beasts.  Some  were  beheaded  ;  others  had  sharp  reeds 
thrust  under  their  nails.  Some  were  cruelly  scourged  and 
beaten  with  clubs  and  balls  of  lead.  Some  had  their 
flesh  torn  off  with  pincers,  or  furrowed  and  racked  off 
•with  piece^  of  broken  pots,  kon  hooks,  and  nails.     Some 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  ^^^^ff^^  117 

ere  exjjosed  to  the  sun,  and  rubbed  over  with  honey,  that 
ej  might  be  stung  and  torkiredby  bees  and  wasps.  Some 
ere  sent  in  chains  to  work  in  the  mines.  Some  were 
iivered  over  to  archers  to  be  shot  to  death  with  arrows, 
me  were  sewed  up  in  sacks,  or  leathern  bags,  with  scor- 
pions, serpents,  vipers,  snake*,  and  other  reptiles,  and 
thrown  into  the  sea.  Some  wei^  confined  in  infectious 
dungeons,  strewed  with  nails  and  broken  glass.  Those 
who  survived  were  called  Confessors^  because  they  had 
courage  to  confess  the  name  of  Christ  before  the  judges. 
A  populous  city  in  Phrygia,  consisting  all  of  Christians, 
jH^as  surrounded  by  a  large  body  of  soldiers,  who  set  fire 
^0  it  ;  and  men,  women,  and  children,  were  all  consum- 
ed in  the  flames.  In  the  West,  the  sanguinary  tyrant 
Maximian,  as  St.  Jerom  calls  him,  having  crossed  the 
Alps  with  his  army,  on  an  expedition  into  Gaul,  and  hav- 
ing halted  at  Octodurum,  then  a  considerable  city  on  the 
Rhone,  above  the  lake  of  Geneva,  now  a  village  called 
Martignac  in  the  Valais,  issued  out  an  order  that  the 
w  hole  army  should  join  in  offering  sacrifice  to  the  gods 
for  the  success  of  their  expedition. — The  Theban  legion, 
consisting  of  about  six  thousand  six  hundred  Christians 
from  Thebais,  or  Upper  Egypt,  hereupon  withdrew  itself, 
^ith  Maurice,  Exuperius,  and  Candidas,  the  captain  and 
Hp'incipa}  officers,  and  encamped  at  some  distance  from 
the  main  body  of  the  army,  that  they  might  not  join  in 
the  idolatrous  worship,  Maximiau  sent  them  repeated 
orders  to  return    to  the  camp    and  offer   sacrifice  ;  and 

K)on  their  constant  and  unanimous  refusal,  he  commanded 
em  to  be    decimated.     Every  tenth   man  was  then  put 
to  death,  according  as  the  lot  fell,  the  rest  exhorting  one 
^nother  in  the  interim  to  perseverance.     After  the  first 
cimation,  a  second  was  commanded,  and  the  emperor 
nt  fresh  threats,  that  if  they  persisted  in  their  disobe- 
ence,  not  a  man  among  them    should    escape   death, 
he  soldiers  declared,  that  "  they  would  rather  suffer  all 
extremities  than  do  any  thing   contrary  to   their  reli- 
gion.    They  humbly   remonstrated  to  Maximian,  that 
''  they  were  his  soldiers,  but  at  the  same  time,   that  they 
were  servants  of  the  true  God.     We  owe  you,   said 
''  they,  military  service  and  obedience  ;  but  we   cannot 
''  renounce  him,  who  is  our  Creator  and  Master,  and  also 
"  yours,  even  whilst  you  reject  him.     In  all  things,  which 


118  HISTORY    OF    THE 

^^  are  not  against  his  law,  we  most  willingly  obey  you,  as 
'^  we  have  done  hitherto.  We  readily  oppose  all  your 
"  enemies,  wherever  they  are,  but  we  cannot  dip  our 
**  hands  in  the  blood  of  the  innocent.  We  have  taken 
"  an  oath  to  God,  before  we  took  one  to  you  ;  you  can 
"  place  no  confidence  in  our  second  oath,  should  we  vi- 
"  olate  the  first.  We  confess  God  the  Father,  Author 
**  of  all  things,  and  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  Neither  the 
*^  extremity  to  which  we  are  reduced,  nor  any  provoca- 
"  tion  hath  tempted  us  to  revolt.  We  have  arms  in  our 
"  hands,  but  we  do  not  resist,  because  we  had  rather  die 
"  innocent  than  live  by  any  sin."  This  legion  was  well 
armed,  and  might  have  sold  their  lives  very  dear.  But 
they  had  learned  to  give  to  God  Avhat  is  God's,  and  to 
Caesar  what  is  Caisar's,  and  they  showed  their  courage 
more  in  dying  for  their  faith,  than  in  the  most  hazardous 
enterprises.  Maximian  having  no  hopes  of  overcoming 
their  constancy,  commanded  his  whole  army  to  surround 
them,  and  cut  them  to  pieces.  They  made  no  resist- 
ance, but,  dropping  their  arms,  suffered  themselves  to 
be  butchered  like  innocent  sheep,  without  opening  their 
mouths,  except  mutually  to  encourage  one  another  ;  and 
not  one  out  of  so  great  a  number  failed  in  courage  to  the 
last.  The  ground  was  covered  with  their  dead  bodies, 
and  streams  of  blood  flowed  on  every  side. 

Such  was  the  general  disposition  and  firmness  of  the 
Christians  under  the  sharpest  trials  and  most  violent  per- 
secutions. Nothing  could  shake  their  constancy,  or  pre- 
vail on  them  to  offer  sacrifice  to  the  idols.  For  one  that 
prevaricated  or  denied  his  faith,  in  the  heat  of  perse- 
cution, or  that  lost  his  courage  when  subdued  by  torture 
and  almost  torn  to  pieces,  or  that  burnt  incense  in  the 
temples,  or  that  procured  at  a  certain  price  certificates 
and  attestations  from  the  Pagan  magistrates,  of  having 
complied  with  the  imperial  edicts,  thousands  sealed  their 
faith  with  the  last  drop  of  their  blood.  They  despise<l 
death  in  its  most  terrifying  shapes,  and  even  stared  it  in  the 
face  with  joy,  regarding  it  as  the  gate  to  everlasting  hap- 
piness. Far  from  retaliating  injuries,  they  prayed  for 
their  persecutors,  and  never  used  the  least  violence 
ftcfainst  those  who  treated  them  with  crueltv.  Thev 
were  so  numerous,  as  to  be  capable  of  forming  great  ar- 
mies, yet  they  sufiered  themselves  to  be  massacred,  ra- 


J 


cc 


CHURCH   OF   CHRIST.  ^^Mf      ^^^ 

er  than  rise  up  in  arms  against  tlieir  princfts  and  rulers  ; 

r  they  had  learned  from  the  Apostles    and  their  sue- 

ssors,   that  the  powers    established  by  God  are  to  be 

spected   even  in   the  persons  of  wicked  men. — They 

id,  as  St.  Justin  and  Tertullian  inform  us:  "  our  hopes 

are  not  fixed  on  the  present  world,  and  therefore  we 

make  no  resistance   to  the  executioner  that  comes    to 

^'  strike  us.     Vv'e  adore  one  only  God,  but  in  all   other 

things  we   cheerfully  obey    the    ruling   powers.*"  We 

pray  to  God  that  he  may  grant  to  the  emperors  a  long 

life,  a  peaceable  reign,  safety  at  home,  victorious  arms, 

*'  a  faithful  senate,  virtuous  subjects,  universal  peace,  and 

*'  every   thing   that  a   man  and   emperor   can    desire." 

Most  flourishing  was  the  condition  of  the  Roman  empire, 

till  the  emperors  drew  the    sword  of  persecution  against 

those,  whose  prayers  were  the  protection  of  the   state. 

They  flattered  themselves  that  they  would  be  able  to  ex- 

Hhguish  the  Christian  name,  and  to   destroy  the  Church, 

^potand  branch.  For  this  end,  they  bore  down  against  her, 

^ith  all  their  weight,  but  all  their  efforts  proved  abortive, 

and  Avere  as  vain  as  the  winds  and  rain  against  a  iiouse, 

^at  is  built  upon  a  rock.     They  had  no  other  effect,  but 

H  throw  a  gloomy  vail  over  the  Church  for  a  while,  b«t 

IB^^  being  once  removed,  she  appeared  with  new  strength, 

and  like  the  sun  emerging  from  an  eclipse,  she  shone  forth 

%vith  greater  lustre  and  spread  her   influence  over  the 

whole    earth.     The    more   her   children  were  persecut- 

jiid,  and  the  more  of  them  were  slain  with  the  sword,  the 

■"ore   they  increased  and  multiplied,   like  unto  a  vine,  as 

St.  Justin  says,  which  by  being  pruned  and  cut  close, 

shoots  forth  new  suckers  and  bears  a  greater  multitude 

of  fruit. 


CHAPTER  :^IV. 

27i€  Pcr9ecidor8  of  the  Church  overtaken  in  this  Life  by  the 
avenging  justice  of  God. 

WHILST  the  Church  of  Christ  increased  by  the  very 
means  that  were  employed  for  her  extermination,  her  ene- 
mies and  persecutors  were  generally  overtaken  by  the 


140  HISTORT    OP  THE 

wrath  of  Heaven,  even  in  this  world,  and  fell  victims  Il» 
Divine  Justice  in  the  end. 

King  Agrippa,  the  grandson  of  Herod,  and  first  prince 
who  drew  the  sword  of  persecution  against  the  Church, 
was  eaten  up  by  worms,  and  expired  in  the  most  exqui- 
site torments,  and  in  all  the  miseries  that  can  he  express- 
ed or  imagined.  Nero  miserably  perished  under  the 
public  resentment  of  the  whole  empire,  and  the  universal 
detestation  of  all  mankind.  The  Roman  senate  havinir 
pronounced  sentence  of  death  against  him,  he  lied  into 
the  country,  and  after  attempting'  his  own  life,  he  prevail- 
ed on  another  to  despatch  him  Mith  a  dagger.  Domitian 
was  murdered  by  his  own  domestics,  and  after  his  death, 
his  statues  were  pulled  down,  his  name  was  erased  out  of 
all  the  public  registers,  and  oi'dered  never  more  to  be 
mentioned.  In  the  days  of  Trajan,  Adrian,  and  Aurelius, 
the  Roman  empire  was  visibly  scourged  with  plagues  and 
famine,  dreadful  earthquakes  and  inundations.  Severus 
and  his  vicious  sons  Caracalla  and  Geta,  fell  into  sad 
disasters,  and  their  whole  family  was  extinguished.  Ju- 
lius Maximius  and  his  son  were  killed  by  the  soldiers  at 
Aquileia,  their  heads  were  -sent  to  Rome,  and  their  bo- 
dies were  left  to  be  devoured  by  dogs  and  birds  of  prej. 
Decius  ran  with  despair  into  a  deep  bog  and  perished 
miserably,  G alius  was  killed  the  year  after  he  com- 
menced persecutor.  Valerian  was  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Persians,  and  led  about  in  triumph,  loaded  with  chains, 
and  clad  in  purple,  and  all  the  imperial  ornaments.  Ahd 
as  often  as  Saphor  I,  king  of  Persia,  had  occasion  to 
mount  on  horseback,  or  to  go  into  his  chariot,  he  made 
use  of  Valerian  for  a  footstool,  or  horseblock,  ordering 
the  unhappy  emperor  to  stoop  down,  and  setting  his  foot 
upon  his  neck  or  back,  as  a  step  to  get  up.  Valerian) 
who  had  robbed  many  others  of  their  liberty,  lived  seven 
years  in  this  infamous  slavery.  After  his  death,  his  skin 
was  flayed  off  his  body,  pickled  with  salt,  tinctured  with 
a  red  colouring,  and  hung  up  as  a  trophy  in  one  of  the 
Persian  temples,  to  be  shown  to  the  Roman  ambassadors 
whenever  they  should  come  into  Persia,  that  they  might 
remember  Valerian's  fall,  and  learn  from  it  not  to  pre- 
sume too  much  upon  their  own  strength.  Aurelian,  that 
haughty,  proud,  and  insolent  prince,  whom  the  fortune  of 
war  had  raised  frojja   a  barbarian  slave  to  the  imperial 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  121 

throne,  and  wlio,  as  Aurelius  Victor  tells  us,  was  the  first 
among  the  Roman  emperors  that  wore  a  diadem,  drew 
down  the  Divine  displeasure  on  himself,  and  was  assassi- 
nated by  his  own  secretary,  and  cnt  off  the  face  of  the 
earth  in  the  beginning  of  his  blood}^  persecution,  after 
leading  Zenobia,  queen  of  the  East,  a  captive  to  Rome, 
in  triumph.  Nothing  prospered  with  Dioclesian,  from 
the  time  he  be«:an  his  war  ai»;ain.vt  the  Church.  Until 
then  he  had  done  many  gallant  actions,  which  merited  a 
triumph,  and  appeared  very  unwilling  to  adopt  violent 
measures,  foreseeing  that  the  peace  of  the  empire  w'ould 
be  thereby  disturbed  to  an  high  degree.  But  Satan  hur- 
ried him  on  blindly  to  destruction,  and  inspired  him  w^ith 
the  most  rancorous  hatred  against  tlie  Christians.  At 
length,  intimidated  by  the  power  and  threats  of  his  fa- 
vourite Galerius,  he  resigned  to  him  the  purple  at  Nico- 
media.  His  colleague,  Maximian  Herculeus,  made  the 
like  abdication  at  Milan,  and  was  compelled  to  resign  the 
imperial  purple  to  Constantius  Chlorus,  after  which  he 
hanged  himself  in  despair.  Victor  the  historian  relates, 
that  Dioclesian  put  an  end  to  his  miserable  life  by  poison. 
He  lived  to  see  his  wife  Prisca  Octavia,  and  his  daughter 
Valeria  publicly  beheaded  by  Licinius,  and  their  bodies 
thrown  into  the  sea.  He  had  also  the  mortification  to 
see  the  Christian  religion  protected  by  law,  and  to  learn, 
that  his  statues  had  been  pulled  down  by  Constantine, 
who  was  created  emperor  on  the  demise  of  his  father, 
Constantius  Chlorus,  who  died  at  York,  in  Great  Britain, 
in  the  year  306.  Lactantius  says,  that  Dioclesian  seeing 
himself  despised  by  the  whole  world,  and  loaded  with 
guilt  and  disgrace,  was  in  perpetual  uneasiness,  and  could 
neither  eat  nor  sleep.  He  was  heard  to  sigh  and  groan 
continually,  often  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  sometimes  tum- 
bling himself  on  his  bed,  and  sometimes  on  the  ground. 
The  hand  of  God  was  likewise  very  visible  upon  the 
abominable  Galerius,  who  had  taken  so  much  pains  to  in- 
stigate Dioclesian  against  the  Christians.  He  was  seized 
with  a  grievous  and  terrible  disease.  Being  extremely 
fat  and  unwieldy,  the  huge  mass  of  his  flesh  was  overrun 
with  putrefaction,  and  swarmed  with  vermin.  An  ulcer 
consumed  the  lower  parts  of  his  belly,  and  laid  open 
his  very  bowels  ;  and  the  stench  that  came  from  him  was 
not  to  be  borne,  even  hy  his  own  servants,  as  Eusebius 
E 


12:2  HISTORY    OF    THE 

relates.  His  pains  were  so  violent,  that  he  roared  out, 
and  often  attempted  to  kill  himself.  In  these  agonies  he 
seemed  to  acknowledge  the  hand  that  scourged  him,  and 
in  order  to  avert  it,  he  published  an  edict  in  favour  of 
the  Christians.  But  Heaven  did  not  relent,  and  his  dis- 
temper increasing,  put  a  period  to  his  wicked  life  in  a  few 
days.  Maxentius,  the  son  of  Maximian  Herculeus,  was 
routed  in  a  battle  he  fought  with  Constantine,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tyber,  near  the  bridge  Milvius,  now  called 
Ponie  Mole^  two  miles  from  Rome.  Constantine's  army 
being  inferior  in  number,  he  earnestly  implored  the  pro- 
tection of  one  supreme  God,  and  was  encouraged  by  a 
miraculous  vision,  for,  after  his  prayer,  a  little  after  mid- 
day, as  Eusebius  relates,  when  he  was  traversing  the 
country  with  part  of  his  forces,  he  saw  in  the  sky  a  cross 
of  light,  with  this  inscription,  "  In  this  shalt  thou  con- 
*'  quer,"  and  he  was  inspired  to  make  a  representation 
of  that  cross,  which  he  had  seen,  and  to  use  it  for  an  en- 
sign in  battle.  The  emperor  accordingly  made  the  fa- 
mous banner  called  JLabarum,  and  effectually  under  its 
auspices,  on  the  28th  of  October",  312,  he  gained  a  com- 
plete victory  over  Maxentius,  who  in  his  flight  was  drown- 
ed in  the  Tyber,  by  the  breaking  of  the  bridge  of  boats, 
Avhich  he  had  caused  to  be  thrown  over  that  river.  On 
the  same  day  Constantine  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  on 
which  occasion,  the  Senate  ordered  that  magnificent 
triumphal  arch  to  be  built,  which  is  still  extant,  at  the 
head  of  the  Appian  Road,  behind  the  famous  amphithea- 
tre. A  statue  was  also  erected  in  honour  of  him  in  one 
of  the  public  places  of  the  city,  where  he  appeared  hold- 
ing a  cross  in  his  hand  instead  of  a  lance  ;  and  he  caused 
this  inscription  to  be  made  on  the  pedestal  :  "  By  this  salu- 
"  tary  sign,  the  true  mark  of  courage,  I  have  delivered 
"  your  city  from  the  yoke  of  tyranny,  and  restored  the 
"  Senate  and  people  of  Rome  to  their  ancient  glory." 
Euseb.  in  Vit.  Const. 

Maximinus  Daia,  the  nephew  and  successor  of  Gale- 
rius,  who  being  upon  the  point  of  engaging  with  Licinius, 
made  a  vow  to  Jupiter,  that  if  he  gained  the  victory,  he 
would  exterminate  the  very  name  of  Christianity,  was  to- 
tally defeated  near  Byzantium,  by  a  much  smaller  army 
than  his  own,  and  compelled  to  repeal  his  edicts  against 
the  Christians.     Upon  which  he  threw  away  his  imperial 


^ 


H 


m 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  1^3 

obe,  and  fled  in  the  habit  of  a  slave  into  Asia.  Shortly 
fter  he  was  struck  with  a  dreadful  disorder  not  unlike 
that  of  Galerius,  and  expired  in  excessive  pain,  rage,  and 
despair.  He  rolled  himself  upon  the  ground,  and  at- 
tempted different  times  to  make  away  with  himself.  For 
his  purpose  he  ate  and  drank  to  great  excess,  and  took 
oison,  which  burnt  him  inwardly,  and  reduced  him  to 
such  a  condition,  that  he  ate  common  earth,  and  looked 
like  a  withered  and  dried  skeleton.  His  pains  became 
so  acute  and  intolerable,  that  he  ran  his  head  against 
the  wall  with  such  violence  that  his  eyes  started  out. 
He  had  put  out  the  eyes  of  many  Christians,  and  now  by  a 
iust  judgment  he  lost  his  own  sight,  and  began  to  acknow- 
odge  that  he  deserved  what  he  suffered  for  his  cruelty, 
and  for  the  insults  which  he  had  committed  against  Jesus 
Christ,  as  Eusebius  relates,  1.  9.  Hist.  c.  10.  He  hkewise 
adds,  that  all  the  rulers  of  the  provinces,  who  had  acted 
under  him,  and  imbrued  their  hands  in  the  innocent  blood 
f  the  Christians,  met  with  an  exemplary  punishment, 
after  being  permitted  for  a  while  to  exercise  their  tyran- 
nical power. 

At  the  death  of  Maximinus  Daia,  in  the  year  313,  LI- 
cinius,  an  Officer,  with  whom  Galerius  had  contracted  an 
intimacy,  and  whom  he  had  declared  his  colleague  and  em- 
peror, remained  master  in  the  East.  He  joined  with 
Constantine  in  a  league,  in  favour  of  Christianity,  super- 
seding all  persecution,  and  married  his  sister  Constantia. 
He  was  a  worthless  and  stupid  prince,  who  could  not  read 
or  write  his  own  name,  hated  all  men  of  learning,  and 
was  in  his  heart  a  foe  to  religion,  though  to  please  Coi^- 
stantine,  he  pretended  himself  to  be  ready  to  become  a 
Christian  ;  but  at  last  he  threw  off  the  mask,  revived  the 
persecution  and  renevved  the  war  he  had  before  waged 
with  Constantine.  Constantine,  on  his  part  having  made 
the  necessary  preparations,  attacked  and  defeated  him 
near  Adrianople,  almost  thirty-four  thousand  of  his  troops 
being  left  dead  on  the  spot.  Licinius  making  a  second 
stand  near  Chalcedon,  ordered  his  soldiers  not  to  attack 
Constantine's  army  on  the  side  where  the  Labarum  or 
great  standard  of  the  cross  was,  nor  to  look  towards  it 
confessing  that  it  was  fatal  to  him,  as  Eusebius  affirms, 
victory  every  where  following  it.  In  this  second  battle, 
oat  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  .iien,  scarce  three 


124  HISTORY    OF    THE 

thousand  of  Licinius'  army  escaped.  Being  at  length 
vanquished  both  by  sea  and  hind,  he  was  allowed  to  re- 
tire to  Thessalonica,  where  he  was  put  to  death,  in  the 
vear  324,  because  he  still  meditated  new  disturbances. 
Lectantius  tells  us,  that  not  only  all  the  aforesaid  per- 
secutors were  crushed  by  a  superior  power,  but  that  their 
whole  race  was  extirpated  and  cut  off  the  face  of  the 
earth.  So  ti*iie  is  it  what  St.  Cyprian  says:  "Never  do 
^'  we  see  the  Christian  name  persecuted,  but  the  Divine 
*'  vengeance  soon  folio -vs."  By  a  just  judgment  of  God, 
the  swords  of  the  persecutors  fell  in  the  end  ^pon  their  own 
criminal  heads,  and  the  Church  of  Christ,  which  they 
had  determined  to  exterminate,  brightened  only  in  the 
tlames  of  persecution.  On  the  other  hand,  the  whole 
system  of  idolatry  was  shaken  to  the  very  foundation,  and 
ready  to  tumble  to  pieces.  It  received  a  deadly  blow 
by  the  accession  of  Constantine  to  the  Imperial  Throne, 
while  Christianity  began  to  triumph  over  every  obstruc- 
tion which  his  Pagan  predecessors  had  opposed  to  it. 
When  he  reigned  sole  emperor,  he  put  a  period  to  the 
persecutions,  and  gave  full  liberty  to  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion, both  in  the  East  and  West ;  and  hence  is  dated 
the  remarkable  epocha  of  the  peace  of  the  Church,  after 
three  hundred  years  of  sufierings. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The,  Church  of  the  fourth  Century. 

THE  Chair  of  St.  Peter  was  filled  in  this  century  by 
Marcellus,  Eusebius,  Melchiades,  Sylvester,  Marcus, 
Julius,  Liberius,  Damasus,  Siricius,  and  Anastasius. 
The  Church  of  Christ  never  suffered  more  violent  as- 
saults, never  gained  more  glorious  victories,  never  sent 
more  saints  to  Heaven  than  under  the  government  of 
those  Pontiffs.  St.  Marcellus  succeeded  Marcelliiuis  in 
the  year  308,  after  the  holy  see  had  been  vacant  for 
three  years  and  a  half.  By  enforcing  the  penitential 
canons,  and  for  his  severity  against  a  certain  apostate,  he 
drew  upon  himself  the  contradictions  of  some  tepid  and 
refractory  Christians,  and  was  banished  by  the   tyraiit 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  i26 

Maxentius.     St.   Eusebius    succeeded   him  in    the  Pon- 
tificate, and  strenuously  maintained  the  discipline  of  the 
Church,  in  the  rigorous   observance    of  the  penitential 
canons  with  regard  to  penitent   sinners,  especially  those 
who  had  denied  the  faith  in  the  persecution.     He   was 
banished  into  Sicily  by  Maxentius,  but  called  thence  by 
God  to   eternal  rest.     He   was   succeeded  by  St.  Mel- 
chiades,  or  Miltiades,  a  zealous  pastor,  a  true  son  of  peace, 
and  a  true  father  of  Christians,  as   St.  Augustine  called 
him,  on  account  of  the  moderation  he  used  in  the  Coun- 
cil, which  he  held  in  the  Lateran  Palace,  and  in  which 
he  acquitted  Cecilian,  successor  to  Mensuriusin  the  see  of 
Carthage,  of  the  charge  brought  against  him,  and  con- 
demned Donatus,  Bishop  of  Casa  Nigra,  in  Numidia,  and 
author  of  the  Donatist  schism,  which  J3lazed  then  with 
great  fury  in  Africa.     St.   Melchiades  dying  in  January 
314,  St.  Sylvester  was  exulted  to  the  Pontificate,  and  the 
same  year  commissioned  four  legates,  two  priests,  and  two 
deacons,  to  represent  him  at  the   Great  Council  of  the 
Western  Church  held  at  Aries,  in  which  the  schism  of 
the   Donatists,  and  the   heresy  of  the  Quartodecimans, 
were  condemned,   and  the  decisions    confirmed   by  St. 
Sylvester,  and  published  to  the  whole  Church.     His  great 
age  not  permitting  him  to   go  in  person   to  the   General 
Council  of  Nice,  which  was  assembled  against  Arianism,^ 
in  the  year  325,  he  sent  his  legates  Ossius*,  Vito,  and  Vin- 
centius  to  assist  at  it  in  his  place.     PJe  greatly  advanced 
religion  by  a  punctual  discharge  of  all  the  duties  of  his  ex- 
alted station  dvn-ing  the  space  of  twenty-one  years  and 
eleven  months,  and  died  on  the  31st  of  December,  335. 
After  his  death,  St.  Marcus  was  elected,  and  having  go- 
verned the  Church  only  eight  months,  he  was  succeeded 
by  Julius,  who  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  genius  and 
sohd  judgment,  apostolic  zeal  and  vigour,  tempered  with 
charity  and  meekness.     He  wrote  an  excellent  letter  to 
the  Oriental  Bishops,  v.hich  Tillemont  calls  one  of  the 
first  monuments  of  ecclesiastical  antiquity.     Julius  go- 
verned the   Church,   fifteen  years,  two  months,  and   six 
days.     His  successor  was  Liberius,  who,  by  some  wri- 
ters, is  excluded  from  the  catalogue  of  Popes,  because  he 
is  said  to  have  subscribed  the   condemnation  of  St.  Atha- 
nasius,  and  a  formulary,  or  creed,  which  had  been  framed 
by  the  Arians  at  Surmium  j  but  the  formtilary  which  he 
L  2 


126  HISTORY    OF    THE 

signed  was  the  first  confession  of  Surmium,  which  was  not 
heretical  in  its  terms,  though  the  word  Coibsiibstantial  was 
omitted  in  it.  Liberius,  indeed,  sunk  under  the  hardships 
of  a  two  years'  exile,  at  Berea  in  Tiirace,  and  his  reso- 
lution was  shaken  by  the  continual  solicitations  of  Demo- 
philus  and  Fortunatian,  two  temporizing  Arian  Bishops. 
He  was  so  far  softened  by  listening  to  flatteries  and  sug- 
gestions, to  which  he  ought  to  have  stopped  his  ears  with 
horror,  that  he  yielded  to  the  snare  laid  for  him,  and  fell 
by  a  prevarication  and  notorious  scandal,  but  not  by  her- 
esy. The  fall  of  so  great  a  prelate,  and  so  illustrious  a 
confessor,  is  a  terrifying  example  of  human  weakness, 
which  no  one  can  call  to  mind,  without  trembling  for 
himself.  St.  Peter  fell  by  a  presumptuous  confidence  in 
his  own  strength  and  resolution,  that  we  may  learn  that 
every  one  stands  only  by  humility.  Liberius,  however, 
speedily  imitated  the  repentance  of  the  Prince  of  the 
Apostles,  and  had  no  sooner  recovered  his  see,  which  he 
had  spontaneously  resigned  to  St.  Felix,  who  died  a  mar- 
tyr in  the  year  359,  than  he  again  loudly  declared  him- 
self the  patron  of  justice  and  truth,  and  anathematized  aJl 
who  did  not  confess  the  Son  like  to  the  Father  in  all 
things.  He  condemned  and  annulled  the  decrees  of  the 
council  of  Rimini,  by  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  those  Bi- 
shops, mentioned  by  Siricius,  Ep.  ad  Himer.  Liberius 
died  in  the  year  366,  and  St.  Damasus,  who  was  Arch- 
deacon of  the  Roman  Church,  and  then  sixty  years  old, 
was  chosen  Pontiff,  and  ordained  in  the  Basilic  of  Lucina, 
otherwise  called  St.  Laurence's.  Soon  after  Ursinus,  who 
could  not  bear  that  St.  Damasus  should  be  preferred  before 
him,  raised  a  schism,  and  got  together  a  crowd  of  dis- 
orderly and  seditious  people  in  the  Liberian  Basilic,  now 
called  St.  Mary  Major,  and  persuaded  Paul,  Bishop  of 
Tibur,  now  Tivoli,  to  ordain  him  Bishop  of  Rome,  con- 
trary to  the  ancient  canons.  Juventius,  praefect  of 
Rome,  banished  Ursinus,  and  some  others  of  his  party. 
Seven  priests,  who  adhered  to  him,  were  seized  to  be 
carried  into  exile,  but  were  secured  by  their  partisans 
and  carried  to  the  Liberian  Basilic.  The  people  that 
sided  with  St.  Damasus  came  together,  unknown  to  him, 
with  swords  and  clubs,  besieged  the  Basilic  to  deliver 
those  men  up  to  the  Praefect,  and  a  fight  ensued,  in  which 
one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  persons  were  killed,  as  S*. 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST,  1^»7 

Augustine  relates.  The  general  council  of  Chalcedon 
styles  Damasus,  for  his  piety,  the  honour  and  glory  of 
Rome.  Theodoret  says  he  was  illustrious  by  his  holy 
life,  and  places  him  at  the  head  of  the  famous  doctors  of 
divine  grace  in  the  Latin  Church.  He  filled  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter  eighteen  years  and  two  months,  and  died  near 
fourscore  years  of  ajje. 

St.  Siricius  sat  near  13  years.  After  his  death,  St. 
Anastasius  was  raised  to  the  Pontificate,  and  acquired  a 
high  reputation  for  his  virtue  and  abilities.  St.  Jerom 
calls  him  a  man  of  an  holy  life,  and  endued  with  an  Apos- 
tolic soHcitude  and  zeal.  He  exerted  himself  in  stopping 
the  progress  of  Origenism,  and  governed  the  Church 
three  years  and  ten  days,  with  great  prudence.  The 
whole  power  of  the  Roman  empire  had  been  exerted  in 
the  preceding  centuries  against  the  Church  with  the  ut- 
most fury,  but  was  not  able  to  stop  its  progress,  much 
less  to  extinguish  it.  The  flock  of  Christ  grew  by  its  own 
losses,  and  gathered  strength  from  the  most  violent  per- 
secutions. The  Almighty,  who  prescribes  limits  to  the 
sea  in  its  greatest  rage,  set  bounds  to  the  power  of  the 
Pagan  Emperors,  and,  as  St.  Augustine  says,  conquered 
the  world,  not  by  the  sword,  but  by  the  cross  ;  and,  by 
a  wonderful  change,  made  its  enemies  become  its  vo- 
taries and  protectors.  He  was  pleased  to  make  Con- 
stantine  the  Great  triumph  by  that  sacred  sign,  that  he 
might  know  the  hand  by  which  he  was  raised  to  the  im- 
perial throne.  This  pious  Prince  immediately  recalled 
the  Christians,  who  had  been  banished  by  his  predeces- 
sors, and  ordered  their  places  of  worship  to  be  restored  to 
them.  He  built  and  endowed  many  churches  at  his  own 
expense:  among  those   Eusebius   mentions  a  most  mag- 

Itfiificent  Church  at  Nicomedia  ;  and  another  at  Antioch, 
In  the  form  of  an  octagon,  which,  from  its  rich  orna- 
ments, was  called  the  Golden  Church.  He  founded  the 
great  Church  of  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople,  and  built 
in  the  same  city  the  beautiful  Church  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  which,  according  to  Eusebius,  "  had  all  its  walls 

K'  covered  with  marble,  its  roof  overlaid  with  gold,  and 
'  the  outside  covered  with  gilded  brass,  instead  of  tiles." 
3e  founded  the  Church  of  our  Saviour,  on  Mount  Caelio 
n  Rome,  now  called  the  Church  of  St.  John  Lateran,  it 
being  built  upon  the  spot  where  the  palace  of  Lateranus^ 


128  HISTORY    OF    THE 

a  rich  Roman  senator,,  formerly  stood.  Within  the  area 
of  this  Church  he  erected  a  Chapel,  dedicated  in  honour 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  with  a  second  altar  in  honour 
of  St.  John  the  Evangelist.  'Upon  the  front  of  this  cha- 
pel, called  the  Baptisterion,  which  is  a  fine  structure,  and 
most  richly  ornamented,  was  placed  an  image  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  which  caused  the  whole  Church  to  be  ge- 
nerally named  the  Church  of  St.  John  Lateran.  This 
Church  is  styled  the  head,  the  mother,  and  the  mistress 
of  all  Churches,  and  was  the  usual  residence  of  the  Bi- 
shop of  Rome,  till  Gregory  IX.  returning  from  Avignon, 
began  to  reside  at  St,  Peter's  in  the  Vatican.  Constan- 
tine  also,  desirous  of  expressing  his  veneration  for  the 
holy  places  which  had  been  honoured  and  sanctified  by 
the  presence  and  sufferings  of  our  Blessed  Redeemer  on. 
earth,  came  to  a  resolution  to  build  a  magnificent  Church 
in  Jerusalem,  near  Mount  Calvary,  and  other  Churches 
in  several  parts  of  Palestine,  to  which  his  devout  mother, 
St.  Helen,  undertook  a  journey,  when  she  was  near  eighty 
years  old,  in  order  to  find  the  identical  cross  on  which 
Christ  suffered  for  our  sins.  Having  succeeded  herein, 
the  pious  empress  ordered  tw^o  stately  churches  in  be 
erected:  one  at  Bethlehem,  where  our  Blessed  Saviour 
was  born,  and  another  on  Mount  Olivet,  from  whence  he 
had  ascended  into  Heaven. — See  Sozomen,  St.  Paulinus, 
Sulpicius,  Severus,  Rufin,  and  other  Historians.  The 
cross  was  then  transferred,  as  St.  Augustine  speaks,  from 
the  places  of  execution  to  the  foreheads  of  emperors  and 
kings,  and  deemed  the  most  valuable  pearl  in  their  crowns. 
Coustantine  forbade  it  to  be  used  in  the  punishment  of 
malefactors  in  any  part  of  his  dominions,  which  has  been 
observed  ever  since  throughout  all  Christendom,  He  or- 
dered the  sign  of  the  cross  to  be  stamped  on  his  coin,  on 
his  helmet,  on  the  banners  of  each  legion,  and  on  the 
shields  of  his  soldiers.  He  chose  fifty  men  of  the  stout- 
est and  most  religious  amongst  his  guards,  to  carry,  by 
turns,  the  standard,  called  the  Imperial  JLabarum,  before 
his  army.  He  likewise  caused  the  sign  of  the  cross  to 
be  erected  in  the  chief  square  of  the  new  city,  that  was 
called  Constantinople,  from  his  own  name.  In  the  year 
330  he  removed  his  imperial  seat  to  this  city,  and  divided 
the  Roman  Empire  into  two  parts,  the  Eastern  and  the 
Western,  for  which  reason  the  Imperial  Eagle  is  repre- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  l!29 

sented  with  two  heads,  one  denoting  the   East,  and   the 
other  the  West,  according  to  the  following  verse: 

IPicta  biceps  aqidlay  hinc  Occasumy  kinc  adspxcii  Ortwn. 
Bij  this  two-headed  Eagle  understand^ 
2^liai  Kast  and  West  obey  our  high  command. 
"  The  Church,"  says  Eusebius,  "  was  then  in  a  flour- 
ishing condition,  and  the  faithftd  employed  themselves 
"  in  all  kind  of  holy  exercises  with  comfort  and  joy  ;  nor 
''  was  there  the  least  danger  to  be  feared  from  any  fo- 
reign enemy."  The  senaters  and  most  distinguished 
characters  in  the  empire,  encouraged  by  the  example  of 
the  Emperor  and  his  pious  mother,  Helena,  the  Empress, 
openly  professed  Christianity  ;  and  the  faithful  were  mul- 
tiplied so  wonderfully  through  the  whole  extent  of  the 
Roman  dominions,  that  it  was  doubted  whether  the 
Christians  or  the  Heathens  were  the  more  numerous  in 
the  Roman  world.  The  Church  shone  like  a  bright  sun 
over  most  of  the  kiiown  world,  and  daily  acquired  new 
splendour  ;  but  this  sunshine  of  peace  was  of  no  very 
considerable  duration  ;  the  blessing  of  so  happy  a  con- 
dition was  more  than  could  be  expected  to  last  very 
long,  as  Christ  had  fixed  that  his  disciples  should  follow 
him,  not  by  a  life  of  prosperity  and  ease,  but  through  the 
thorny  roads  of  tribulation.  This  situation  was  too  flat- 
tering not  to  raise  the  envy  of  Satan,  who  saw  his  idols 
fallen  into  disrepute,  and  his  temples  deserted:  he  was 
no  longer  able  to  keep  mankind  in  the  old  dark  road  of 
Pagan  superstition,  or  to  persecute  the  Church  by  Hea- 
thenish emperors,  who  no  more  existed  ;  wherefore  he 
shifted  his  ground,  and  contrived  a  means  to  persecute 
her  by  the  hands  of  her  own  rebellious  children  when 
she  was  delivered  from  her  foreign  enemies:  in  short,  he 
invented  a  stratagem  to  deceive  the  unwary,  under  the 
disguise  of  the  Christian  name  itself.  This  stratagem, 
says  St.  Cyprian,  was  the  heresy  of  Arius,  and  the 
schism  of  Donatus,  which  he  employed  as  his  instruments 
10  subvert  faith,  to  corrupt  truth,  to  dissolve  unity,  to 
tear  the  seamless  garment  of  Christ  in  pieces,  and  to 
lay  waste  the  Church,  by  exciting  her  own  bowels  to 
lise  up  and  make  war  upon  her  in  a  furious  manner. 

Arius,  a  priest  of  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  was  well  vers- 
ed in  profane  literature,  was  a  subtle  dialectician,  had  an 


'130  HISTORY    OF    THE 

exterior  show  of  virtue,  and  an  insinuating  behaviour,  but 
was  a  monster  of  pride,  vain  glory,  and  ambition,  which 
easily  betray  men  into  the  most  fatal  errors  ;  for  who- 
ever is  possessed  with  these  vices  is  fond  of  his  own  con- 
ceits, self-confident,  and  obstinate,  and  will  endeavour  to 
shut  up  all  the  avenues  of  light,  however  strong  the  day- 
light of  evidence  may  be  in  itself.  Arius  concealed  a 
heart  full  of  deceit  under  an  affected  modesty  ;  and, 
pretending  an  holy  zeal  for  discipline,  joined  Meletius, 
Bishop  of  Lycopolis,  in  the  beginning  of  a  pernicious 
schism,  which  he  had  formed,  and  which  took  its  name 
from  him,  and  disturbed  the  Church  of  Egypt  for  many  ' 
years.  After  the  death  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Achillas, 
Arius  had  the  ambition  to  aspire  to  the  see  of  Alexandria, 
but  finding  himself  disappointed  by  the  election  of  St.  Alex- 
ander, he  became  his  mortal  enemy  ;  and  as  Alexander's 
life  and  conduct  were  irreproachable,  all  his  endeavours  to 
oppose  him  were  levelled  at  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  that 
holy  prelate  ;  hence  his  jealousy  stimulated  him  to  broach 
a  new  blasphemous  aystem  of  doctrine,  which  denied  the 
divinity  o£  Christ  our  Redeemer.  He  propagated  the  poi-  _ 
son  of  his  heresy  by  his  Thalia^  or  poems  and  songs,  which 
he  composed  and  taught  the  lower  class  of  people  to  sing, 
and  even  found  means  to  gain  over  to  his  party  twenty- 
two  Oriental  Bishops,  among  whom  was  the  crafty  Eu- 
sebius  of  Nicomedia,  his  warm  friend  and  principal  patron , 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Donatist  schism  disturbed  the 
peace  of  the  Church  in  the  six  Roman  provinces  of  Af- 
rica. At  first  there  was  only  question  about  the  legality 
of  the  election  of  Cecihan,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  and  suc- 
cessor to  Mensurius,  who  had  been  falsely  accused  of 
having  delivered  up  the  sacred  Scriptures  to  be  burnt,  in 
the  time  of  persecution.  Donatus,  Bishop  of  Cassa  Ni- 
gra, in  Numidia,  pretended  that  Cecilian's  ordination  was 
illegal,  and  most  unreasonably  separated  himself  from  his 
communion.  The  affair  being  carried  to  the  Apostolic 
see,  Donatus  refused  to  submit  to  the  decision,  and  was 
joined  by  the  jealous  enemies  of  Cecilian,  especially  by  a 
powerful  lady  called  Lucilla,  who  was  personally  piqued 
against  that  zealous  prelate,  whilst  he  was  Archdeacon  of 
the  Church  of  Carthage,  because  she  had  received  from 
him  a  rebuke,  and  wanted  humility  and  discretion,  with- 
out which  the  show  of  piety  is  only  a  shadow  and  pha- 


CHUnCH    OF    CHRIST.  131 

risalcal  hypocrisy.     She  was  accustomed  every  morning, 
before  she   received  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord,  to 
kiss  the  bone  of  an  unknown  dead  man,  whom  she  pre- 
tended to  have  been  a  martyr,  but  who  was  not,  or  at  least 
had  not  been,   acknowledged  such  by  the  Pastors  of  the 
Ciiurch  ;  for,  to  prevent  abuses  and  superstition,  it  was 
always  a  necessary  law  in   the  Church,  that  no  private 
persons  should  be  allowed  to  pay  to  rehcs  the  honour  due 
to  those  of  martyrs,   without  a  moral  assurance  of  their 
authenticity,    or    without   the   Bishop's    approbation. — 
When  these  rules  of  prudence  are  observed,  even  though 
a  mistake  should  happen,  it  is  of  the  same  nature  as  if  a 
person,  by  inculpable  inadvertence,  kissed   some  other 
book  instead  of  the  Bible,  and  the  primary  object  of  such 
religious  actions,  which  is  to  glorify  God  in  his  Saints,  is 
always  certain,  whatever  mistakes  may  happen  in  facts, 
or  such  like  human  means,  which   excite  our  devotion. 
Cecilian,  in  quality  of  Archdeacon,  thought  it  his  duty  to 
put  Lucilla  in  mind  of  her  fault,  but,  through  the  mist  of 
her  passions,   she  was  not  able  to  discern  the  charity  of 
this  just  and  necessary  correction.     Her  resentment  for 
this  pretended  affront  seemed  to  have  no  bounds  when 
she  saw  Cecilian  raised  to  the  Archiepiscopal  Chair  of 
Carthage.     By  her  money  and  interest  she  protected  and 
abetted  a  faction  that  was  formed  against  him  by  some 
competitors,  who,  being  discontented  at  his  preferment, 
resolved  to  carry  matters  to  the  last  extremity,  and  set 
aside  his  election,  upon  no  other  pretence  but  the  foolish 
plea  that  he   admitted  the  penitent  Traditors  to  his  com- 
munion, and  thereby  defiled  the  sanctity  of  the  Catholic 
Church.     Donatus  and  his  abettors  raised  altar  against 
altar,  and  established  another  Bishop  in  Carthage.     Their 
party  at  length  became  so  numerous,  that  they  counted 
five  hundred  Bishops  of  their  own  faction,  and  so  furious, 
that  they  seized  on  the   Churches  of  the  Catholics  by 
force  of  arms,  drove  away  the  lawful   bishops,  broke 
down  the  altars  and  sacred  vessels,  and  forcibly  re-bap- 
tized such  as  had  received  baptism  out  of  their  commu- 
nion.    Thus  a  small  spark  in  the  beginning  gave  rise  to 
a  flame  of  altercations  and  contentions,  tumults  and  com- 
motions, and  blazed  up  in  process  of  time  into   a  great 
fire.     To  put  a  stop  to  the  unhappy  disputes  that  were 
laised  bv  the  Arians,  and  divided  the  Church,  Constan- 


132  HISTORY    OF    THE 

tine  the  emperor  zealously  concurred  in  assembling  a  Ge- 
neral Council,  this  being  the  only  remedy  adequate  to 
the  growing  evil,  and  ca})able  of  restoring  peace  to  the 
Church.  By  letters  of  respect  he  invited  the  Bishops 
from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  the  city  of  Nice,  in  Bithynia, 
and  defrayed  their  expenses.  They  assembled  in  the 
Imperial  Palace  on  the  19t.h  of  June,  in  the  year  32d. 
The  Emperor  entered  the  Council  witliout  guards,  nor 
^vould  he  sit  till  he  was  requested,  as  Eusebius  says.  This 
was  the  first  general  Council,  and  it  consisted  of  three 
hundred  and  eighteen  Bishops,  eminent  both  for  their  pi- 
ety and  learning.  The  renowned  Osius,  Bishop  of  Cor- 
duba,  iu  Spain,  presided  thereat,  in  the  name  of  St.  Syl- 
vester, by  whom  he  was  commissioned.  The  fathers 
thus  assembled,  in  imitation  of  the  Apostles  on  a  similar 
occasion,  examined,  refuted,  and  proscribed  the  doctrine 
of  Arius,  and  cut  him  off  from  the  communion  of  the 
faithful.  They  ascertained  the  Catholic  Faith,  and  drew 
up  a  solemn  j)rofession,  known  by  the  name  of  T/te  Ni~ 
cenc  Creed,  wherein,  to  exclude  all  the  subtleties  of  the 
Arians,  they  declared,  in  terras  that  left  no  subterfuge  for 
error,  no  room  for  heresy  to  play  in,  the  Son  consubsfan- 
ikd  to  the  Father.  Divine  providence  was  pleased  to 
raise  up  at  this  very  juncture  a  great  number  of  bishops 
and  learned  doctors,  like  so  many  illustrious  champions, 
to  support  his  own  cause  with  becoming  dignity,  to  de- 
fend the  revealed  truths  of  faith  with  intrepidity,  and  to 
set  Christian  morality  in  the  clearest  point  of  view.  They 
employed  their  pens  and  exerted  their  zeal  in  con)bati:g 
the  impious  tenets  of  the  Arians,  and  in  detecting  the 
slanders  and  calumnies  by  which  they  imposed  on  the 
Emperor  Constantine,  and  the  difierent  artifices  wheieby 
they  endeavoured  to  elude  the  decision  of  the  Council  of 
Nice,  and  to  diffuse  their  contagious  doctrine  among  the 
people,  in  ambiguous  professions  of  faith,  couched  in 
equivocal  terms.  The  great  St.  Athanasius,  Bishop  of 
Alexandria,  hved  in  the  midst  of  this  sceiie,  and  bore  a 
great  share  in  it,  having  been  five  times  banished  from  his 
&ee,  and  five  times  recalled.  He  had  employed  all  the 
power  which  his  authority  put  in  his  hands,  to  bring  back 
the  Meletian  schismatics  in  Egypt  to  the  unity  of  the 
Church.  Their  opposition  moved  the  Arians  to  court 
theh*frieud.ship,  and  pei-suade  them  to  enter  into  a  solemn 


m 


CHURCH    OF    CHAIST.  133 

league  of  iniquity  together,  against  St.  Athanasius,  though 
they  were  in  other  respects  at  variance  with  each  other. 
This  is  the  spirit  of  all  sectaries,  who,  though  divided  in 
other  things,  dissemble  their  private  animosities,  and  enter 
into  a  mutual  confederation,  and  cabal  against  the  truth  ; 
not  unlike  Herod  and  Pilate,  who  forgot  their  enmity  to 
unite  and  agree  in  persecuting  Christ.  The  Arians  thus 
united  with  the  Meletians,  and  seconded  by  Eusebius,  set 
their  engines  at  work  to  calumniate  and  impeach  St. 
J^thanasius,  and  they  at  length  succeeded  so  far  as  to  pre- 
vail on  Constantine  to  banish  him  to  Triers,  then  the  chief 
city  of  the  Belgic  Gaul.  How  often  are  princes  obliged 
1^:0  see  with  the  eyes  of  others,  and  how  difficult  is  it  fr^- 
'^juently  to  them,  when  surrounded  with  flatterers  and  hy- 
pocrites, to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  !  but  God 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  Emperor  with  regard  to  the  in- 
nocence of  his  holy  servant,  for  in  his  last  illness  he  re- 
called St.  Athanasius  from  his  banishment,  and  expiated 
is  faults  and  errors  by  devoutly  receiving  the  sacrament 
of  Baptism  and  the  other  sacraments,  in  the  year  337, 
when  he  died  at  Nicomedia. 
|— .  Arius  the  heresiarch  had  been  shortly  overtaken  by  the 
li^ustice  of  God,  and  cut  off  the  face  of  the  earth  by  a  sud- 
den and  miserable  death  the  preceding  year,  on  the  very 
day  that  his  friends  were  conducting  him  in  triumph  to  the 
Church  of  Constantinople  in  order  to  thrust  him  forcibly 
into  the  sanctuary.  The  Arians  continued  still  to  disturb 
the  peace  of  the  Church.  Wherefore,  in  the  year  347, 
or  as  some  say  344,  another  synod  of  three  hundred  Bi- 
shops assembled  at  Sardica  in  Illyricum.  Natalis  Alex- 
ander considers  it  a  general  council,  but  it  is  commonly 
looked  upon  only  as  an  appendix  to  the  council  of  Nice, 
because  it  only  confirmed  its  decrees  of  faith.  St.  Maxi- 
minus,  Bishop  of  Triers,  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
defenders  of  the  Cathohc  faith  in  this  council.  After  the 
death  of  Constantine,  surnamed  the  Great,  his  three  sons 
divided  the  empire,  as  their  father's  will  directed.  Con- 
stantine, the  eldest,  had  Britain,  Spain,  Gaul,  and  all  that 
lies  on  this  side  the  Alps.  Constantius,  the  second  son, 
possessed  Thrace,  Asia,  Egypt,  and  the  East.  Constans, 
the  youngest,  occupied  Italy,  Africa,  Greece  and  Illyri- 
cum. The  city  of  Alexandria,  being  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  Constantius,  the  Arians  took  care  to  gain  him  over 
M 


134 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


to  their  party.  He  was  a  constant  protector  of  Arianism, 
and  a  violent  persecutor  of  tlie  orthodox,  especially  when 
he  became  sole  master  of  the  whole  empire  in  the  year 
353,  after  the  death  of  his  two  brothers,  Constantine  and 
Constans.  Constantiiis  objected  to  the  Catholics  the 
prosperity  of  his  reign,  as  a  proof  of  the  justice  and 
truth  of  his  cause.  Like  Polycrates  of  Samos,  who  boast- 
ed that  foHune  was  in  his  jmy,  he  gloried  in  the  success 
that  crowned  whatever  he  undertook,  but  he  had  not 
then  seen  the  issue.  He  did  not  consider,  that  the  smiles 
of  fortune  are  often  to  impenitent  sinners  the  most  dread- 
ful of  all  divine  judgments  ;  and  that  on  the  contrary,  the 
afflictions  and  distresses  of  the  just,  are  often  the  greatest 
effects  of  the  divine  mercy,  and  are  sent  by  Providence  for 
the  exercise  of  patience  ;  to  put  their  love  to  the  test, 
and  to  call  forth  their  resignation,  humility  and  reliance 
on  God.  The  Arian  faction,  supported  thus  by  the  se- 
cular power,  employed  all  the  means  that  artifice  and  ma- 
lice could  suggest,  to  undermine  the  very  foundation  of 
religion,  and  to  destroy  the  true  professors  of  it.  They 
deposed,  scourged,  wounded,  imprisoned,  or  exiled  the 
lawful  prelates,  who  refused  to  communicate  with  them, 
and  intruded  apostates  and  usurpers  into  their  sees,  like 
so  many  wolves  let  in  amongst  the  flock.  They  pulled 
down  and  burnt  several  churches,  and  branded  the  mi- 
nisters of  the  altar  in  the  forehead.  The  emperor,  also,  by 
an  unjust  usurpation  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  was 
more  occupied  in  persecuting  the  orthodox  than  in  go- 
verning the  empire.  He  caused  a  council  to  be  assem- 
bled at  Seleucia  in  Isauria,  and  another  at  Rimini  in 
Italy,  in  the  year  359.  The  council  of  Rimini  consist- 
ed of  three  hundred  and  twenty  Catholic  Bishops,  and 
about  fourscore  Arian.  The  prelates,  whilst  they  were  at 
their  full  liberty,  confirmed  the  Nicene  Creed,  maintain- 
ed the  Catholic  truth,  and  refused  to  admit  any  new  for- 
mulary or  profession.  But  being  intimidated  by  the 
menaces  of  Taurus  the  emperor's  prasfect,  who  threatened 
them  with  exile,  and  who  had  received  orders  not  to  suf- 
fer them  to  break  up  until  they  had  signed  a  new  for- 
mula, that  was  dressed  up  by  the  Arians,  a  number  of 
them,  not  aware  of  the  fraud,  and  uneasy  to  be  con- 
iined  so  long,  and  at  such  a  distance  from  their  churches, 
had  the  weakness  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  deceived,  and 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  135 

to  yield  to  the  artifices  of  the  Arians,  by  signing  a  cap- 
tious profession  of  faith,  in  which  the  word  Consubstantial 
was  omitted.  The  formula  was  in  appearance  Catholic, 
and  supposed  by  the  fathers  to  be  orthodox,  for  they  be- 
lieved that  the  meaning  of  the  word  Consubstantial  was 
contained  therein  in  other  expressions.  But  they  were 
afterward  surprised  to  see  the  triumph  of  the  Arians,  as  if 
they  had  aboHshed  the  Nicene  faith,  which  gave  occasion 
to  that  celebrated  saying  of  St.  Jerom,  that  the  ivorld  won- 
dered to  find  itself  become  Avian ;  from  which  it  follows, 
that  it  was  not  really  so,  as  no  one  is  astonished  to  find 
himself  what  he  really  is.  The  fault  of  the  prelates  was 
not  owing  to  any  error  in  faith,  but  to  a  want  of  courage 
and  insight  into  the  artifices  of  the  Arians.  Hence,  struck 
with  remorse  for  their  unwary  condescension,  by  which, 
through  surprise,  and  without  any  intention  or  design, 
they  had  given  room  to  the  imaginary  triumph  of  Arian- 
ism,  those  who  had  been  beguiled,  retracted  their  sub- 
scription, and  professed  their  adherence  to  the  Nicen  e 
faith.  No  sooner  did  they  perceive  the  imposition,  than 
they  protested  against  it,  and  expressed  their  detestation 
of  the  sense  given  by  the  Arians  to  the  subscribed  for- 
mula. The  Bishops  spread  all  over  the  universal  Church 
had  no  share  in  that  seduction. — On  the  contrary,  having 
Pope  Liberius  at  their  head,  they  zealously  rose  up  against 
the  scandal,  and  disavowed  this  act  of  the  council  of  Rimi- 
ni ;  so  that  the  pubhc  doctrine  of  faith  suffered  no  change 
or  alteration  whatsoever,  but  invariably  continued  one  and 
the  same,  except  in  a  few  places,  comparatively  speaking, 
that  were  seduced  into  error.  The  greatest  portion  of  the 
flock  of  Christ,  even  in  the  Eastern  provinces,  stood 
always  firm  in  their  faith,  and  adhered  closely  to  the 
determination  of  the  council  of  Nice,  as  is  attested  by  St. 
Athanasius,  who  held  the  patriarchal  chair  of  Alexandria 
forty-six  years,  according  to  St.  Cyril.  As  to  the  West- 
ern provinces,  they  were  a  considerable  time  almost  una- 
nimous in  their  detestation  of  Arianism,  till  it  was  import- 
ed by  foreign  people,  who  came  to  settle  there,  and  even 
then  the  West  was  but  little  infected  by  it,  for  Divine 
Providence  raised  St.  Hilary,  Bishop  of  Poictiers,  to  de- 
fend the  faith,  and  to  oppose  the  impious  tenets  of  the 
Arians  with  invincible  courage  in  the  West,  as  St. 
Athanasius  did  in  the  East. 


136  HISTORY    OF    THE 

St.  Augustine  styles  St.  Hilary  the  illustrioillB  doctor  of 
the  Church,  and  St.  Jerom  says,  that  he  was  a  most  elo- 
quent man,  and  the  trumpet  of  the  Latins  against  the 
Arians.  He  himself  says,  he  was  brought  up  in  idolatry, 
but  having  discovered  the  absurdity  of  Polytheism,  he 
submitted  his  understanding  to  divine  revelation,  and  re- 
ceived the  heavenly  regeneration  by  baptism.  He  was 
married  before  his  conversion,  but  from  the  time  of  his 
ordination  and  election  to  the  episcopal  see  of  Poictiers, 
i^bout  the  year  353,  he  lived  in  perpetual  continency,  as 
St.  Jerom  observes,  1. 1 .  Contra  Jovinian.  For  though  the 
Church  was  sometimes  obliged  to  make  choice  of  mar- 
ried men  for  the  priesthood,  because  virgins,  or  unmarried, 
could  not  always  be  found,  they  notwithstanding  lived 
ever  after  continent.  All  St.  Hilary's  writings  breathe  an 
extraordinary  vein  of  piety.  St.  Jerom  in  a  particular 
manner  recommends  to  devout  persons  the  reading  of  his 
elegant  comments  on  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  and  on 
the  Psalms.  The  weak  emperor  Constantius,  who  was 
the  dupe  sometimes  of  the  Arians,  and  at  other  times  of 
the  Semi-arians,  sent  an  order  to  Julian,  then  Caesar,  in 
Gaul,  for  St.  Hilary's  immediate  banishment  into  Phry- 
gia,  together  with  St.  Rhodanius,  bishop  of  Toulouse,  be- 
cause they  refused  to  submit  to  the  Arian  councils  of 
Aries  and  Milan,  and  to  hold  communion  with  Ursacius, 
Valens,  and  Satuninus,  three  Arian  bishops  in  the  West. 
On  a  similar  occasion  St.  Eusebius  of  Vercelli,  St,  Dio- 
iiysius  of  Milan,  and  Lucifer  bishop  of  Cagliari,  the  me- 
tropolis of  Sardinia,  were  exiled.  But  the  trophies  Lu- 
cifer had  jijained  bv  his  zeal  ajfainst  the  Arians,  were  af- 
terwards  blasted  by  the  scandal  he  gave  in  layii.'g  the 
foundation  of  the  fatal  schism  of  the  Eustathians  at  An- 
tioch,  and  in  giving  birth  to  another  unhappy  schism  of 
his  own,  which  he  still  carried  to  greater  length,  refusing 
to  communicate  not  only  with  the  penitent  bishops,  who 
at  Rimini  had  been  drawn  into  the  snares  of  the  Arians, 
and  into  an  omission  favourable  to  their  heresy,  but  also 
with  those  who  received  them,  that  is,  with  the  whole 
Cathohc  Church,  and  its  visible  head. 

St.  Hilary  during  his  exile,  employed  his  time  in  com- 
posing several  learned  works.  The  principal  and  most  es- 
teemed of  those,  is  that  On  the  Tnnity ,  against  ike  Anans^ 
ill  twelve  books.     In  this  immortal  monument  of  his  ad- 


11 


CHURCH   O^   CHRISf.  3137 

mirable  genius  and  piety,  he  proves  the  consubstantiality 
of  the  Father,   Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  explains  the 
Trinity,  which  we  profess  in  the  form  of  Baptism.     He 
detects  and  confutes  the  subtleties  of  the  Arians  in  their 
various  confessions   of  faith,  and  also  of  the  Sabellians 
and  Photinians.     He  demonstrates  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
from  the  confessions  of  St.  Peter,  and  of  the  very  Jews, 
who,  more   sincere  than  the   Arians,   acknowledged  that 
Christ  called  himself  the  natural  Son  of  God.     The  na- 
tural unity  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  he   demonstrates 
from  that  text:  land  my   leather  are   One.     He  proves 
that  '*  Arianism  cannot  be  the  faith  of  Christ,  because  not 
'  reveafled  to  St.  Peter,  upon  whom  the  Church  was  built 
'  and  Secured  foi*  ever  ;  for  whose  faith  Christ  prayed, 
'  that  it  might  never  fail  ;  who  received  the  keys  of  the 
'  kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  whose  judiciary  sentence  on 
^  earth  is  that  of  Heaven."  1.  8.  ?.  ^e  proves  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  "  by  the  miracles  wrought  at  the  sepulchres  of 
^  the  Apostles  and  Mart}Ts,  and  by  their  relics:  for  the 
^  devils  themselves  confess  Christ's   Godhead,  and  roar 
^  and  flee  at  the  presence  of  the  venerable  bones  of  his 
'  servants."  1.  11.  de  Trin. 

He  teaches,  that  "  the  Church  is  one,  out  of  which,  as 
'  out  of  the  Ark  of  Noah,  no  one   can  be  saved."  1.  7. 
He  observes,  that  *'  from,  the  testimony  of  Christ,  in  the 
'  holy  Scriptures,  and  from  the  faith  of  the   Church,  we 
'  believe  without  doubting,  the  Eucharist  to  be  the  true 
'  body  and  blood  of  Christ,"  1.   8.   n.  14.     In  his  expo- 
sition of  the  Psalter,  which  he  compiled  after  his  exile,  he 
teaches  that  "  the  holy  angels,  patriarchs,  and  prophets, 
'  protect  the  Church,  attend  and  succour  the  faithful,  as- 
'  sist  them  in  time  of  combat  against  the  devils,  and  car- 
*  ry  up  their  prayers  to  their  heavenly  Father."     He  also 
mentions,  "  fast  days  of  precept,   the  violation  of  which 
'  renders  a  Christian  a  slave  of  the  devil,  a  vessel  of  death, 
'  and  the  fuel  of  hell,"  in  Ps.  1 18.  1.  18.     This  holy  doc- 
tor wrote  two  books  to  Constantius,  in  which  he  entreats 
him  to   restore  peace  to  the   Church,  and  to  receive  the 
nchangeable  apostolic  faith,  injured  by  the  late  innova- 
ons.     He  also  smartly  rallies  the  fickle  humour  of  the 
Arians,  *'  who  were  perpetually  making  new  creeds,  con- 
*'  demning  their  old  ones,   having  made  four  within  the 
*'  compass  of  the  foregoing  year.     He  complains  that  they 
M  2 


133         '  ■  HISTORY    OF  THE 


*<had  their  yearly  and  monthly  faiths,  that  they  had 
"Scripture  texts,  and  the  words  Apostolic  faith  in  their 
•'mouths,  for  no  other  end  than  to  impose  on  weak  minds; 
"that  they  lost  faith  by  attempting  to  change  it;  that  they 
**  corrected  and  amended,  till,  weary  of  all,  they  condemn- 
*'  ed  all ;  that  faith  was  now  become  that  of  the  times,  not 
**  that  of  the  Gospels,  and  that  there  were  as  many  faiths 
"  as  men,  as  great  a  variety  of  doctrine  as  of  manners,  as 
*'  many  blasphemies  as  vices."  He  therefore  exhorts  them 
to  return  to  the  haven  from  which  the  gustsof  their  party 
spirit  and  prejudice  had  driven  them,  as  the  only  means  to 
be  delivered  out  of  their  tempestuous  and  perilous  con- 
fusion. 

The  great  St.  Martin,  the  glory  and  light  of  Gaul,  was 
a  disciple  of  St.  Hilary.  The  utter  extirpation  of  idola- 
try out  of  the  diocese  of  Tours,  and  all  that  part  of  Gaul, 
was  the  fruit  of  his  edifying  piety,  illustrious  miracles, 
zealous  labours,  and  fervent  exhortations  and  instructions. 
He  was  remarkable  for  his  humility,  charity,  austerity, 
and  all  other  heroic  virtues.  The  churches  of  Spain- and 
Gaul  were  at  that  time  disturbed  by  the  Priscillianists,  who 
revived  many  errors  of  Simon  Magus,  the  Gnostics,  and 
the  Manicheans,  to  which  they  added  their  favourite  tenet 
of  dissimulation,  holding  it  to  be  a  precept,  to  conceal  their 
doctrine  by  lies  and  perjuries,  for  it  was  an  avowed  prin- 
ciple amongst  them,  Jura,  perjura,  secretum  prodere  noli: 
Swear,  forswear  thyself,  betray  not  the  secret.  These 
heretics  were  condemned  by  the  council  of  Saragossa,  with 
their  abettors,  Instantius  and  Salvianus,  who  grew  furious 
at  their  condemnation,  and  ordained  Priscillian,  who  gave 
name  to  the  sect.  Bishop  of  Avila. — ^They  resolved  to  ad- 
dress themselves  to  St.  Damasus.  Salvian  died  at  Rome, 
the  other  two  repaired  to  Milan,  and  made  interest  with 
the  emperor  Gratian.  But  the  new  emperor  Maximus, 
ordained  them  to  be  tried  in  a  council  at  Bourdeaux. 
Priscillian  having  appealed  to  Maximus,  they  were  both 
sent  to  him  at  Triers,  where  being  tried  by  Eodius  the 
praefect,  and  accused  by  Ithacius,  a  Spanish  Bishop,  Pris- 
cillian and  his  associates  were  beheaded.  St.  Martin  hap- 
pening at  that  time  to  go  to  Triers,  to  intercede  with  the 
tyrant  in  favour  of  certain  persons,  who  were  condemned 
to  death  for  adhering  to  their  master  Gratian,  reproved 
the  Spanish  Bishop  Ithacius,  for  prosecuting  and  seeking 


i 


cntiicu  OF  CHRIST.  13.9 

to  put  heretics  to  death,  and  pressed  him  to  desist  from 
his  accusation,  and  to  consider  how  much  the  Church  ab- 
orred  the  shedding  of  blood,  even  of  criminals,  and  ne- 
er  suffered  any  of  her  clergy  to  have  any  share  in  such 
causes.  He  also  besought  Maximus  not  to  spill  the  blood 
of  the  guilty  ;  saying  it  was  sufficient  that  they  had 
been  declared  heretics  and  excommunicated.  The  em- 
peror, out  of  regard  to  his  remonstrances,  caused  the  trial 
to  be  deferred  while  St.  Martin  stayed  at  Triers,  and  even 
promised  that  the  blood  of  the  persons  accused  should  not 
be  spilt  ;  though  after  the  saint  had  left  Triers,  he  suffer- 
ed them  to  be  condemned  by  the  Imperial  Judges.  St. 
Martin,  on  his  return  to  Tours,  was  received  there  as  the 
tutelar  angel  of  his  people.  In  his  great  age  he  relaxed 
nothing  of  his  austerities,  or  of  his  zealous  labours  for  the 
salvation  of  souls.  He  was  above  fourscore  years  old 
when  he  died,  and  he  continued  to  the  end  of  his  life  to 
confirm  his  doctrine  by  frequent  and  wonderful  miracles, 
especially  casting  out  devils,  and  raising  the  dead  to  life, 
like  another  Elisaeus,  as  we  are  assured  by  St.  Sulpicius 
Severus.  This  illustrious  writer  was  a  disciple  of  St. 
Martin,  and  squared  his  life  by  his  direction.  His  con- 
version from  the  world  happened  in  the  same  year  with 
that  of  Paulinus  of  Nola.  He  wrote  the  life  of  St.  Mar- 
tin, and  says,  that  his  greatest  comfort  in  the  loss  of  so 
good  a  master,  was  a  confidence  that  he  should  obtain  the 
divine  blessings,  by  the  prayers  of  St.  Martin  in  Heaven. 
The  most  important  work  of  St.  Sulpicius,  is  his  Abridg- 
ment of  Sacred  History,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world, 
down  to  his  own  time.  It  is  a  most  useful  classical  book 
for  Christian  schools,  and  looked  upon  as  the  most  finish- 
ed model  extant  of  abridgments.  The  elegance,  concise- 
ness, and  perspicuity,  with  which  it  is  compiled,  have  pro- 
cured him  the  name  of  the  Christian  Sallust.  He  has  imi- 
tated the  style  of  the  purest  ages,  though  he  sometimes 
takes  the  liberty  to  use  certain  terms  and  phrases  which 
are  not  of  the  Augustan  standard, 

St.  Paulinus,  Bishop  of  Nola,  was  born  at  Bourdeaux, 
in  the  year  353.  His  superior  virtues  rendered  him  the 
admiration  of  his  own  and  all  succeeding  ages,  and  ex-* 
cited  St.  Martin,  Sulpicius  Severus,  and  several  others,  to 
vie  with  each  other  in  celebrating  his  heroic  actions,  and 
to  become  the  publishers  of  his  praises  to  the  corners  of 


140  HISTORY    OF   THE 

the  earth.  Besides  the  pre-eminence  of  his  birth  and 
pedigree,  in  which  was  displayed  a  long  line  of  rich  and 
illustrious  senators,  he  received  from  nature  a  penetrating 
and  elevated  understanding,  and  an  elegant  genius,  with 
other  excellent  accomplishments  of  mind  and  body,  by 
which  he  was  qualified  for  the  highest  attainments,  and 
seemed  born  for  every  thing  that  is  great.  These  talents 
he  cultivated  from  his  infancy,  by  the  closest  application 
to  the  study  of  all  the  liberal  arts,  and  had  for  his  master 
in  poesy  and  eloquence  the  famous  Ausonius,  the  first 
man  of  his  age  in  polite  literature,  and  the  ablest  master. 
Probity,  integrity,  and  other  moral  virtues,  were  endow- 
ments of  his  still  more  admirable  than  his  learning.  His 
merit  Avas  soon  distinguished  at  the  bar,  where  he  pleaded 
with  great  applause.  "Every  one,"  says  St.  Jerom,  "  ad- 
"  mired  the  purity  and  eloquence  of  his  diction,  the  deli- 
*'  cacy  and  loftiness  of  his  thoughts,  the  strength  and 
*'  sweetness  of  his  style,  and  the  Hveliness  of  his  imagina- 
"  tion."  He  was  raised  by  the  emperor  to  the  first  digni- 
ties of  the  state,  and  declared  consul  before  the  year  379. 
But  God  was  pleased  to  open  his  eyes  to  see  the  empti- 
ness of  all  worldly  pursuits,  and  to  touch  his  heart,  yet 
divided  by  a  desire  of  pleasing  men,  and  to  inspire  him 
with  a  more  noble  and  innocent  ambition,  of  becoming 
little  for  the  sake  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  He  made 
some  advances  in  virtue,  by  the  conversation  of  St.  Am- 
brose, St.  Martin,  and  St.  Delphinus,  Bishop  of  Bour- 
deaux,  who  spoke  to  him  of  the  necessity  of  happiness  of 
giving  himself  to  God,  without  reserve.  He  was  an  enemy 
to  vanity  and  to  the  love  of  human  applause,  than  which 
passion  nothin"^  can  be  more  unworthy  of  virtue,  or  more 
beneath  a  generous  soul  ;  though  all  the  Heathen  philo- 
sophers shamefully  disgraced  their  attainments  by  this 
base  weakness.  Tully  was  not  ashamed  to  boast  of  it, 
and  Demosthenes  was  delighted  to  hear  a  poor  old  woman 
whisper,  This  is  the  great  Demosthenes.  Paulinus  seemed 
always  raised  by  his  own  greatness  of  soul  above  this  ab- 
ject passion,  and  sliowed  that  geniuses,  which  are  truly 
great,  are  superior  to  their  own  abihties.  But  still  he 
found  how  difficult  a  task  it  is  for  man  to  preserve  a  per- 
fect disengagement  and  purity  of  heart,  in  the  midst  of 
worldly  honours  and  blandishments,  and  to  shield  his  soul 
from  the  penetrating  caresses  of  pleasures,  or  stand  his 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  141 

ground  against  the  incitements  of  the  softer  passions. 
Certain  revokitions  that  happened  in  the  empire  contri- 
buted to  give  him  a  more  feehng  sense  of  the  instability 
of  earthly  things,  and  to  discover  to  him  the  falsehood  of 
the  gilded  bubbles,  which  dazzle  the  eyes  of  men  at  a  dis- 
tance. In  fine,  he  sold  all  his  estates,  distributed  the 
^Drice  among  the  poor,  and  retired  from  the  world,  in  or- 
^^■er  to  aspire  to  Christian  perfection,  and  embrace  the 
■umiiity  of  the  Cross  in  a  small  cottage,  near  Nola,  in 
IHbampania.  When  the  servants  of  God  complimented 
him  upon  his  retreat,  he  begged  them  to  refrain,  *^and 
*'  not  add  to  the  load  of  his  sins  by  praises  which  were 
*'  not  his  due.  It  surprises  me,"  said  he,  *'  that  any  one 
*'  should  look  upon  it  as  a  great  action  for  a  man  to  pur- 
■^  chase  salvation,  the  only  solid  good,  with  perishable 
'^  pelf,  and  to  sell  the  earth  to  buy  Heaven."  He  re- 
ceived the  holy  order  of  priesthood  from  the  hands  of  the 
Bishop  of  Barcelona  in  the  church,  on  Christmas'jday, 
at  the  earnest  request  of  the  people,  who  were  in  hopes 
to  fix  him  among  themselves,  but  after  having  spent  fif- 
teen years  in  retirement,  where  he  practised  all  the  rules 
and  austerities  of  a  monastic  state,  he  was  chosen  to  fill 
the  episcopal  chair  of  Nola,  on  the  demise  of  Paul,  the 
Bishop  of  that  city.  The  epistles  of  St.  Paulinus  gained 
him  the  name  of  ^'  the  delight  of  ancient  Christian  piety." 
St.  Augustine  says,  that  they  flow  with  milk  and  honey, 
"nd  that  the  faithful,  in  reading  them,  were  transported 
with  their  charms,  and  inspired  with  sweetness  and  ar- 
dour. Ep.  27.  He  expresses,  Ep.  23.  ad  Sever,  a  great 
devotion  to  the  saints  ;  he  testifies,  that  their  relics  were 
used  in  consecration  of  altars  and  churches,  the  faithful 
not  doubting  that  they  serve  for  a  defence  and  a  remedy. 
He  mentions  that  their  shrines  were  adorned  with  flowers. 
Poem  14.  that  crowds  flocked  to  them,  Poem  13.  being 
attracted  by  the  miracles  Avrought  by  their  intercession. 
He  speaks  as  an  eye-witness  of  a  imaging  fire,  which  had 
mastered  all  the  power  of  human  industry,  but  was  ex- 
tinguished by  a  little  chip  of  the  holy  cross,  Poem  25. 
He  sent  to  Sulpicius  Severus  a  chip  of  that  holy  wood 
enchased  in  gold,  calling  it,  "  A  great  present,  in  a  httle 
*'  atom  ;  a  defence  of  our  temporal,  and  a  pledge  of  eter- 
"  nal  life."  Ep.  32.  Pie  speaks  of  holy  images  and  pic- 
tures, and  calls  them  the  books  of  the  ignorant.  Poem  24. 


•# 


142  HISTORY    OF    THE 


He  begged  the  prayers  of  his  friends,  for  the  soul  of  his 
brother  deceased,  and  doubts  not  but  they  will  procure 
him  refreshment  and  comfort,  if  he  suflered  any  pains  in 
the  other  hfe,  Ep.  35.  He  made  every  year  a  journey 
to  Rome  to  visit  the  tombs  of  the  Apostles,  Ep.  45.  and 
to  assist  at  the  feast  of  St.  Peter  and  Paul,  Ep.  17.  All 
his  poems  on  St.  Felix,  are  full  of  testimonies  of  his  conii- 
dence  in  the  intercession  of  that  saint.  He  prays  him  to 
recommend  his  petitions  to  God,  and  to  be  his  protector 
before  the  throne  of  his  divine  Majesty,  especially  at  the 
day  of  judgment.  Poem  14.  He  declares  also  in  his  32d 
Epist.  that  in  the  holy  Eucharist,  we  eat  the  same  flesh 
of  Christ,  which  was  fastened  on  the  Cross,  and  drink 
the  same  life-giving  blood,  that  flowed  from  his  wounds, 
as  appears  from  the  following  distich  : 

In  cruce  fixa  caro  est,  qua  pascor  :  de  cruce  sanguis 

Illejiuitj  vitam  quo  biboy  corda  lavo. 
•  Ep.  32.  p.  204. 

St.  Nocholas,  Archbishop  of  Myra,  the  capital  of  Ly- 
cia,  flourished  also  in  the  fourth  century,  and  became  fa- 
mous by  his  charity  to  the  poor,  his  extraordinary  piety 
and  zeal,  and  an  incredible  number  of  stupendous  miracles. 

St.  Pacian,  Bishop  of  Barcelona,  was  likewise  a  great 
ornament  of  the  Church  in  this  century.  St.  Jerom  ex- 
tols his  eloquence  and  learning,  and  more  particularly  the 
chastity  and  sanctity  of  his  life,  after  he  renounced  the 
world  and  was  raised  to  the  Episcopal  chair.  He  wrote 
three  learned  letters  to  Sempronian,  a  Novatian  noble- 
man, on  penance,  and  on  the  name  Catholic^  a  sermon  on 
Baptism,  and  an  exhortation  to  penance,  which  are  still 
extant,  and  wherein  he  clearly  asserts  and  proves  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Church,  with  regard  to  the  Sacraments  ot 
Baptism,  Confirmation,  Eucharist,  and  Penance.  The 
beauty  of  this  holy  doctor's  writings  can  only  be  discover- 
ed by  reading  them.  His  diction  is  elegant,  his  reasoning 
just  and  close,  and  his  thoughts  lively.  He  is  full  of  unc- 
tion when  he  exhorts  to  virtue,  and  of  strength  when  he 
attacks  vice,  and  defends  the  true  faith,  which  made  him 
say,  in  his  reply  to  Sempronian,  who  thought  him  angry, 
**  that  remedies  seem  often  bitter,  and  that  he  only  was 
*'  like  the  bee,  which  sometimes  defends  its  honey  with  its 
"  sting." 


i 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  143 

pbreni  was  the  most  illustrious  of  all  the  doctors, 
o  by  their  doctrine  and  writings  have  adorned  the  Sy- 
riac  Church  in  the  fourth  centurv.     He  was  born  in  the 
territory  of  Nisibis,  a  strong  city  in  Mesopotamia,  and 
consecrated  to  God  by  his  parents,  from  his  cradle,  like 
Muother  Sam\iel,  though  he  was  eighteen  years  old  when 
he  was  baptized.     The  great  servant  of  God,  St.  James, 
Bishop  of  Nisibis,  was  his  spiritual  director  and  patron. 
He  spent  many  years  in  the  desert,  out  of  which  he  came 
inilamed  with  the  ardour  of  a  Baptist,  to  preach  penance 
with  incredible  zeal  and  fruit,  and  to  announce  the  divine 
truths  to  a  world  buried  in  spiritual  darkness  and  insensi- 
bility.    Being  ordained  deacon  of  the  Church  of  Edessa, 
he  became  an  apostle  of  penance,  brought  many  idolators 
to  the  faith,  and  converted  great  numbers  of  Arians,  Sa- 
bellians,  Novatians,  Millenarians,  Marcionites,  Apollina- 
rians,  Manicheans,  and  disciples  of  the  impious  Barde- 
sanes,  who  denied  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh.   He  never 
would  consent  to  be  promoted  to   the  sacerdotal  dignity, 
but  continued  always  in  the  humble  station  of  a  deacon. 
His  spotless  purity  was  the  fruit  of  his  sincere  humility 
and  constant  watchfulness  over  himself.     He  was  deeply 
penetrated  with  the  fear  of  the  Divine  judgment,  and  had 
always  present  to  his  mind  the  rigorous    account  he  was 
to  give  to  God  of  all  his  actions.     Nothing  seemed  more 
admirable  in  him  than  his  compunction  of  heart,  the  sister 
of  that  sincere  humihty,  which  all  his  words,  actions,  and 
writings,  breathed  in  a  most  affecting  manner.     He  ap- 
peai-ed   always    drowned  in  an    abyss  of  compunction. 
Night  and  day  his  eyes  seemed  swimming  in  tears,  whicJi 
readily  flowed  from  him  in    abundance,  as  often  as  he 
raised  his  heart  to  God,  or  remembered  the  sweetness  of 
iiis  divine  love,  or  the  baseness  of  sin.     '•'•  We  cannot  call 
•'  to  mind  his  perpetual  tears,  says  St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa, 
without  melting  into  tears.     We  cannot  read  his  dis- 
'•'  courses  on  the  last  judgment  without  weeping.     Where 
"  is  the  proud  man,  continues  the  same  holy  doctor,  who 
"  would  not  become  humble  by  reading  his  discourse  on 
"  humility  ?     Who  would  not  be  inflamed  with  a  divine 
"  fire  by  reading  his  treatise  on  charity  ?     Who  would 
"  not  wish  to  be  chaste  in  heart  and  spirit,  by  reading  the 
praises  he  has  given  to  virginity  V 
St.  Ephrem  spoke  with  admirable  perspicuity,  copious- 


144       ♦  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ness  and  sententiousness,  in  an  easy,  imafTected  style. 
Words  flowed  from  him  like  a  torrent,  wijen  he  treated 
of  spiritual  subjects.  His  writings  derive  a  singular  energy 
from  the  natural  bold  tropes  of  the  Syriac  language,  of 
which  he  was  a  perfect  master,  and  have  a  graceful 
beauty  and  force,  which  no  translation  can  attain  ;  though 
his  works  are  not  studied  compositions,  but  the  effusions 
of  an  heart  penetrated  and  overflowing  with  the  most 
perfect  sentiments  of  divine  love,  coniidence,  compunc- 
tion, humility,  and  other  virtues.  He  wrote  seventy-six 
ParceneseSj  or  moving  exhortations  to  penance,  and  seve- 
ral treatises  and  sermons  on  compunction,  on  the  vices 
and  passions,  on  humility,  on  the  last  judgment,  on  frater- 
nal charity,  on  the  beatitudes  and  virtues,  and  divers  other 
subjects.  He  also  wrote  commentaries  on  the  first  book 
of  Moses,  the  fourth  book  of  Kings,  Joshua,  Judges,  Job, 
and  on  all  the  prophets,  &c.  His  works  demonstrate  the 
uniformity  in  faith  of  the  Church  in  the  fourth  century, 
with  that  of  the  Church  of  all  ages.  Nothing  can  be 
clearer  than  the  texts  collected  by  Ceillier,  torn.  8.  p. 
101,  from  the  writings  of  St.  Ephrem  in  favour  of  the 
real  presence  of  the  sacred  body  of  Christ  in  the  hoiy 
Eucharist.  His  confidence  in  the  precious  fruit  of  this 
blessed  sacrament  of  the  altar  raised  his  hope,  and  in- 
flamed his  love,  especially  in  his  last  illness,  and  on  his 
passage  to  eternity,  about  the  year  378,  for  he  then  ex- 
pressed himself  thus  ;  "  Entering  upon  so  long  and  dan- 
*'  gerous  a  journey,  I  have  my  viaticum,  even  thee,  O 
*'  Son  of  God.  In  my  extreme  spiritual  hunger,  I  will 
"  feed  on  thee,  the  repairer  of  mankind.  So  it  shall  be 
''  that  no  fire  will  dare  to  approach  me  ;  for  it  will  not 
'^'  be  able  to  bear  the  sweet  saving  odour  of  thy  body  and 
blood."  Necrosim.  can.  81.  p.  355.  t.  6. 

St.  James,  Bishop  of  Nisibis,  in  Mesopotamia,  who 
lived  in  the  fourth  century,  Avas  favoured  with  the  gifts  of 
prophecy  and  miracles  in  an  uncommon  manner.  Nice- 
phorus  names  him  among  the  holy  bishops. in  the  Council 
of  Nice,  who  bore  the  glorious  marks  of  their  sufilBrings 
for  Christ.  His  learning  and  writinjcs  have  procured 
him  a  rank  next  to  St.  Ephrem,  among  the  doctors  of 
the  Syriac  Church.  He  wrote  eighteen  excellent  dis- 
courses, still  extant,  on  faith,  charity,  fasting,  prayer,  h»i- 
mility,  holy  virginity,  on  penanc^,  and  other  pious  sab- 


CHURCH   OP    CHRIST.  145 

jects.  In  his  foui*th  discourse  he  expressly  says:  "  None 
*■*  will  be  cleansed,  unless  they  have  been  washed  in  the 
**  laver  of  baptism,  and  have  received  the  body  and  blood 
"  of  Christ"  And  in  his  seventh  discourse  he  exhorts 
K  sinners  "  to  confess  speedily  their  crimes  ;  to  conceal 
**  which,  through  shame,  is  final  impenitence."  He  adds, 
"the  priest  cannot  disclose  such  a  confession."  p.  237. 
Genadius  also  mentions  twenty-six  books  written  by  this 
holy  doctor  in  the  Syriac  tongu«. 

St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  younger  brother  to  St.  Basil  the 
Great,  was  so  illustrious  in  th-e  fourth  century,  that  the 
Arians  trembled  ut  his  name.  Havang;  renounced  the 
world,  he  was  ^ardained  Lector,  and  in  the  year  372,  he 
was  chosen  Bishop  of  Nyssa,  a  city  of  Cappadocia,  near 
the  Lesser  Armenia.  The  high  reputation  of  his  learning 
and  virtue,  procured  him  the  title  of  Father  of  tJi£  Fathers^ 
as  the  seventh  general  council  testifies.  His  sermons  are 
eternal  monuments  of  his  piety,  zeal,  and  eloquence  ; 
but  his  great  penetration  and  learning  appear  more  in  his 
polemic  works,  especially  in  his  twelve  books  against  Eu- 
nomius.  He  wrote  many  commentaries  on  the  Holy 
-Scripturjes,  five  orations  on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  eight 
sermons  on  the  eight  beatitudes.  His  sermons  on  pe- 
jaance,  on  alms,  on  virginity,  on  the  lent  fast,  on  loving  the 
poor,  and  against  usurers,  fornicators,  and  those  who  de- 
5"er  baptism,  are  particularly  beautiful  and  elegant.  He 
writes  very  expressly,  and  at  length,  on  the  invocation  of 
Saints,  inculcates  the  authority  of  Priests,  in  binding  and 
l^.^oosing  before  God,  and  calls  St.  Peter  the  head  of  the 
!■  Apostles,  and  the  prince  of  the  apostolic  chair.  He  is  no 
less  clear  for  the  sacrifice  of  the  altar,  for  the  private 
confession  of  sins,  and  for  transubstantiation,  in  his  great 
catechistical  discourse,  c.  37.  p.  534,  where,  speaking  of 
the  two  sacraments  of  Baptism  and  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
he  says,  *'  that  in  the  latter,  Christ's  real  body  is  mixt 
"  with  our  corruptible  bodies,  to  bestow  on  us  immortality 
"  of  grace." 

St.  Basil,  the  great,  the  illustrious  doctor  and  intrepid 
champion  of  the  Church,  in  the  fourth  century,  was  born 
towards  the  close  of  the  year  329,  at  Caesarea,  the  me- 
tropolis of  Cappadocia.  After  making  a  wonderful  pro- 
ficiency in  the  first  elements  of  literature,  first  at  Caesa- 
rea, and  then  in  oratory  at  Constantinople,  under  the  ce- 

N 


146  HISTORY    OF    THE 

lebrated  sophist  and  rhetorician  Libanius,  he  was  sent  to 
Athens,  which  from  the  days  of  Pericles,  who  raised 
Greece  from  barbarism,  remained  still  the  seat  of  the  Mu- 
ses and  of  the  purity  and  attic  elegance  of  the  Greek 
tongue.  Here  he  met  and  contracted  an  intimacy  with 
St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  which  was  the  most  perfect 
model  of  holy  friendship,  not  founded  on  base  interest, 
pleasure,  sensual  fondness,  or  a  variable  affection,  but 
rooted  in  pure  love  and  motives  of  true  virtue.  They 
carefully  shunned  the  rock  of  bad  company,  and  the 
conversation  of  scholars,  that  were  impious,  rude,  or  im- 
pudent. A  most  important  lesson,  especially  to  youth, 
the  neglect  of  which  is  the  ruin  of  the  strongest  virtue, 
and  renders  abortive  all  the  care  and  instructions  of  the 
most  zealous  parents  and  pastors,  and  all  the  fruit  of  the 
very  best  education.  The  holy  pair  of  perfect  friends  knew 
only  two  streets  in  Athens,  as  St.  Gregory  tells  us,  the 
first  vk^hich  led  them  to  the  church  and  to  the  holy  teachers 
and  doctors,  who  there  attended  the  service  of  the  altar, 
and  nourished  the  flock  of  Christ  with  the  food  of  life. 
The  second  street  was  the  road  to  the  schools,  and  to 
tiieir  masters  in  the  sciences.  They  left  to  others  the 
the  streets  which  led  to  the  theatre,  to  spectacles, 
{'eastings,  and  diversions,  and  avoided  the  dangerous 
snares  which  the  enemy  of  souls  never  fails  to  throw  in 
ilie  way  on  such  occasions.  It  was  no  loss,  but  an  ad- 
vantage to  them,  that  from  motives  of  virtue,  they  abhorred 
the  theatre,  for  the  stage  only  gives  a  theatrical  accent 
and  gesture,  ill  becoming  an  orator,  and  never  formed 
any  great  man  to  speak  well  at  the  bar,  or  in  the 
pulpit.  Basil  soon  excelled  in  all  the  liberal  arts  and 
s'ciences-  He  spared  no  pains  to  perfect  himself  in  the 
art  of  true  and  genuine  eloquence,  and  to  form  his  style 
upon  the  best  models.  He  excelled  likewise  in  poesy, 
philosophy,  and  every  other  branch  of  literature.  In  lo- 
gic, such  were  his  superior  abilities,  that  it  would  have 
been  more  easy  for  a  man  to  draw  himself  out  of  a  la- 
byrinth, than  to  extricate  himself  from  the  web,  in  which 
he  entangled  his  adversaries  by  the  force  of  his  reasoning, 
as  St.  Gregory  tells  us.  He  seasoned  his  studies  with  the 
assiduous  meditation  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  a  diligent 
perusal  of  the  works  of  the  Fatliers,  in  order  to  qualify 
liimself  for  the  ministry  of  the  Church,  and  for  announc- 


CHtlRCII   OF    CHRIST.  147 

ing  the  great  truths  of  salvation  to  mankind.  At  Athens 
he  was  already  regarded  as  an  oracle  both  in  sacred  and 
profane  learning.  In  the  year  357,  he  ti^avelled  over 
Syria  and  Egypt,  and  visited  the  most  celebrated  monas- 
teries and  hermits  of  the  deserts  in  those  countries.  Be- 
ing much  edified  by  the  examples  of  those  holy  men,  who 
lived  like  travellers  on  earth  and  citizens  of  heaven,  he 
despised  all  the  glittering  advantages,  with  which  the 
world  flattered  him,  gave  away  the  greatest  part  of 
his  estate  to  the  poor,  and  embraced  the  penitential  and 
laborious  state  of  a  poor  monk.  He  was  ordaiv.ed  priest 
in  the  year  363,  and  upon  the  death  of  Eusebius  was 
chosen  and  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Caesarea,  in  the 
year  370.  Being  placed  in  this  dignity,  he  seemed  as 
much  to  surpass  himself,  as  he  had  before  surpassed  others. 
Like  an  impregnable  tower,  he  baffled  all  the  eflbrts  of 
the  Arians  and  Eunomians,  and  gained  a  glorious  triumph 
over  the  emperor  Valens.  He  was  indefatigable  in  preach- 
ing to  his  Hock,  and  advancing  piety  and  devotion.  His 
iieal  made  him  spare  no  pains  for  the  conversion  of  sin- 
ners, whose  crimes  were  to  him  a  perpetual  source  of 
tears  and  sighs  to  the  Father  of  Mercies.  The  poor, 
ilistressed  and  afflicted  were  always  sure  to  find  comfort 
and  relief  in  his  boundless  charity.  He  founded  a  vast 
hospital,  which  Nazianzen  calls  a  new  city.  St.  Gregory 
of  Nyssa  compares  his  abstinence  to  the  fast  of  Elias. 
His  writings  are  published  in  three  volumes,  folio.  Erasf 
mus,  and  many  other  critics,  call  St.  Basil  the  most  ac- 
complished orator  the  world  has  ever  produced,  superior 
even  to  Cicero  and  Demosthenes,  the  unrivalled  princes 
of  eloquence  among  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans. 

St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  was  surnamed  the  Theolo- 
gian, on  account  of  his  profound  skill  in  sacred  learning. 
His  father,  whose  name  also  was  Gregory,  being  from  his 
youth  a  worshipper  of  false  gods,  was  at  length  converted 
by  the  prayers  and  tears  of  his  pious  wife  Nonna,  and 
baptized  about  the  time  of  the  great  council  of  Nice, 
being  then  about  forty-five  years  old.  The  sanctity  of 
his  life  raised  him  soon  to  the  episcopal  see  of  Nazianzen 
near  Caesarea,  which  he  held  about  forty-five  years  with 
great  edification,  hvingin  celibacy,  and  rigorously  observ- 
ing the  canons  of  the  Church.  St.  Gregory,  his  eldest 
son^  born  long  before  tiie  father's  conversion  and  episco° 


148  HISTORY   OF    THE 

pacy,  was  consecrated  by  his  mother  to  the  service  o^ 
God  from  his  infancy,  and  received  such  impressions  of 
piety  in  his  tender  age,  that  he  resolved  to  spend  his  life 
in  the  holy  state  of  perfect  continence.  The  progress  he 
made  in  eloquence,  philosophy,  and  the  sacred  studies, 
appears  by  the  high  reputation  which  he  acquired,  and 
by  the  monuments  he  has  transmitted  to  posterity.  But 
his  greatest  happiness  and  praise  was  that  he  always 
made  the  fear  and  love  of  God  his  principal  afl'air,  to 
which  he  referred  his  studies,  all  his  pursuits  and  endea- 
vours. In  these  dispositions  he  enjoyed  his  dear  friend, 
St.  Basil,  in  the  solitude  of  Pontus,  where  fasting,  watch- 
ing, prayer,  contemplation,  studying  the  holy  Scriptures, 
singing  psalms,  and  manual  labour,  employed  the  whole 
time.  Being  afterwards,  with  great  reluctance,  ordained 
Priest,  in  the  year  361,  he  trembled  at  the  thoughts  of 
the  terrible  account  which  would  be  demanded  of  him  for 
the  souls  committed  to  his  care,  and  of  the  duties  of  the 
sacerdotal  office,  and  the  sanctity  requisite  to  approach 
the  altar  of  God.  Yielding  however  to  the  necessities 
of  the  Church,  he  acquiesced,  and  was  afterwards  impor- 
tuned by  St.  Basil  to  receive  the  episcopal  consecration 
at  Caesarea,  in  the  year  372.  At  length,  notwithstanding 
many  tears  and  expostulations,  he  was  placed  in  the  ar- 
chiepiscopal  chair  of  Constantinople  by  the  united  sohci- 
tations  and  entreaties  of  the  faithful,  and  of  a  synod  of  all 
the  Bishops  of  the  East,  wherein  St.  Meletius,  Patriarch 
of  Antioch,  presided.  It  was  here  that  St.  Jerom,  coming 
out  of  the  deserts  of  Syria,  became  his  disciple  and  scho- 
lar. The  faithful  there,  and  even  heretics  and  pagans, 
admiring  his  erudition,  and  charmed  with  his  eloquence, 
flocked  to  his  sermons  and  discourses,  as  men  parching 
with  thirst  eagerly  go  to  the  spring  to  quench  it.  He  soon 
reformed  the  morals  of  the  people,  and  purged  them  of 
that  poison  which  had  corrupted  their  hearts  for  many 
years.  But  the  envy  of  the  Devil  and  of  his  instruments 
could  not  bear  the  success  of  the  saint's  apostolic  labours. 
Several  attempts  were  made  upon  his  life,  because  he 
valued  nothing  but  God,  and  scorned  to  flatter  the  great 
ones  in  their  luxury.  A  ferment  was  raised  among  the 
people^  and  the  Bishops  of  Egypt  complained,  that  his 
election  to  the  chair  of  Constantinople  was  uncanonical, 
it  being  forbidden  by  the  canons  to  transfer  bishops  frocQ 


fciitJiiCtt  o'F  CHkisT.  149 

fen6  see  to  another,  for  fear  of  introducing  avarice  or  am- 
bition into  the  sanctuary.  Wherefore  St.  Gregory  Na- 
zianzen,  falling  on  his  knees  befote  the  emperor  Theodo- 
sius,  who  had  pot  him  in  possession  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Sophia,  prayed  him  to  accept  his  resignation,  and  grant 
him  license  to  retire  to  his  little  cottage,  which  heing  ob- 
tained with  much  difficulty,  the  saint  delivered  a  pathetic 
discourse  in  the  metropolitan  Church,  before  a  hundred 
and  fifty  bishops,  and  an  incredible  multitude  of  people. 
He  declared,  that  he  was  placed  in  that  chair  through  the 
importunities  of  others,  that  he  never  desired  that  dignity, 
that  he  took  the  charge  upon  him  much  against  his  will, 
and  that  he  had  never  taken  possession  of  any  other  see. 
He  said,  that  since  his  holding  the  see  of  Constantinople 
gave  disturbance,  he  was  ready  and  willing  to  depart,  and 
like  Jonas,  to  be  cast  into  the  sea,  to  appea.se  the  storm, 
though  he  did  not  raise  it.  He  only  wished  that  the 
Church  of  God  might  enjoy  peace,  and  that  the  see  might 
be  filled  by  a  person  capable  and  wilhng  to  defend  the 
faith.  He  observed,  *'  that  he  was  accused  of  having 
"  made  a  mean  appearance  with  respect  both  to  dress 
"  and  table  ;"  but  he  vindicated  himself  herein,  saying  : 
"  I  did  not  take  it  to  be  any  part  of  my  duty  to  yie  with 
"  consuls,  generals,  and  governors,  who  know  not  how 
*'  to  employ  their  riches  otherwise  than  in  pomp  and 
*^  show.  Neither  did  I  imagine,  that  the  necessary  sub- 
^^  sistence  of  the  poor  was  to  be  applied  to  the  support  of 
■*'  luxury,  good  cheer,  a  prancing  horse,  a  sumptuous  cha- 
**  riot,  and  a  long  train  of  attendants.  If  I  have  acted  in 
*^  another  manner,  and  have  thereby  given  ofi'ence,  the 
■*'  fault  is  already  committed,  and  cannot  be  recalled  ;  but 
*^  I  hope  is  not  unpardonable."  He  concluded,  by  bid- 
ding a  moving  farewell  to  his  Church,  to  the  cl-ergy,  and 
to  his  dear  flock,  beseeching  them  *'  to  preserve  the  de- 
*^  positum  of  faith,  and  to  remember  the  stones,  which 
"  had  been  thrown  at  him,  because  he  planted  it  in  their 
"  hearts."  Numbers  followed  him  weeping,  but  Constan- 
tinople was  not  worthy  to  possess  so  great  and  so  holy  a 
pastor.  He  \e£t  that  city  before  the  election  of  Necta- 
rius,  and  returned  to  his  favourite  solitude,  where  seeing 
himself  at  liberty,  and  rejoicing  in  his  happiness,  he  ex- 
pressed himself  to  a  friend  in  these  words  :  "  What  ad- 
**  vantages  have  I  not  found  in  the  jealousy  of  my  ene- 
N2 


150  HISTORY   OF   THE 

"  mies  ?  They  have  dehvered  me  from  the  fire  of  Sodom, 
*^  by  drawing  me   from   the  dangers   of  the    episcopal 
**  charge."  Ep.  73.     He  spent  the  remainder  of  his  hfe 
in  retirement,  in  a  private  abode  near  Arianzum,  where 
he  had  a  garden,  a  fountain,  and  a  shady  grove.     Here, 
in  company  with  a  few  anchorites,  he  hved  estranged  from 
pleasures,  and   in   the   practice  of  bodily  mortification, 
fasting,  watching,  and  praying.    *'I  live,"  says  he,  Carm. 
5.  and  60.   "  among  rocks   and  wild  beasts,  never  seeing 
"  any  fire  or  using  shoes,  having  only  one  single  garment. 
"  I  lie  on   straw,  clad  in  sackcloth :  my  floor  is  always 
"  moist  with  the  tears  I  shed."  Carm.  147.     In  the  de- 
cline of  life  he  wrote  several  pious  poems,  in  opposition 
to  the  poems  made  use  of  by  the  Apollinarists,  to  pro- 
pagate their  poisonous  errors.     In  his  paro&netic  poem  to 
St.  Olympius,  he  lays  down  excellent  rules  for  the  con- 
duct of  married  women  :  among  other  precepts,  he  says  : 
"  In  the  first  place  honour  God  ;  then  respect  your  hus- 
"  band ;  love  only  him  ;  take  care  never  to  give  him  any 
'^  occasion  of  otfence  or  disgust.     Yield  to  him  in  his  an- 
"  ger :  comfort  and  assist  him  in  his  pains  and  afflictions, 
"  speak  to  him  with  sweetness  and  tenderness,  and  make 
'^  him  prudent  and  modest  remonstrances  at  seasonable 
"  times.  It  is  not  by  violencfe  and  strength  that  the  keep- 
"  ers  of  lions  endeavour  to   tame   them,  when  they  see 
"  them  enraged  :  but  they  soothe  and  caress  them,  stroking 
"  them   gently,  and  speaking  with   a   soft  voice."     His 
writings  contain  an  hundred  and  fifty-eight  poems,  full  of 
aspirations  of  divine  love  to  Jesus  Christ,  "  without  whose 
''  grace,"  he  says,  ^Sve  are  only  dead  carcasses  exhaling 
"  the  stench  of  sin,  and  as  incapable  of  making  one  step, 
'^  as  a  bird  is  of  flying  without  air,  or  a  fish  of  swimming 
*^  without  water  ;  for  he  alone  can  make  us  see,  act,  and 
'^  run."     He  wrote  237  letters,  pubhshed  by  the  learned 
Billius,  and  227  epigrams,  published  by  the  indefatigable 
Muratori,  Librarian  to  the  Duke  of  Modena.     He  com- 
posed 46  orations  on  several  points  of  morality  and  mys- 
teries of  faith,  and  two  discourses  against  the  Apollina- 
rists.    He  teaches  and  practises  the  invocation  of  saints 
in  many  places.    He  reproaches  Julian  the  apostate,  that 
he  refused  to  honour  the  relics  of  the  martyrs,  which 
cured  distempers  and  expelled  devils. 

St.  Amphilochius,  Bishop  of  Iconium;  the  capital  of  the 


i 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  151 

second  Pisidia,  otherwise  called  Lycaonla,  was  a  Ieai?ned 
and  eminent  Father  of  the  fourth  century,  and  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen  and  St.  Basil.  He 
assisted  at  the  general  Council  of  Constantinople,  held  in 
381,  against  the  Macedonian  heretics.  Theodoret  informs 
us,  that  St.  Amphilochius  zealously  opposed  the  rising 
h«resy  of  the  Messalians  or  Euchites,  who  were  a  set  of 
fanatics,  that  sprung  up  in  Mesopotamia,  and  gave  much 
disturbance  to  the  Church.  They  pretended  to  an  extra- 
ordinary perfection,  placed  the  whole  essence  of  religion 
in  prayer  alone,  rejected  the  use  of  the  Sacraments,  and 
all  other  practices  of  religion,  even  fasting ;  lived  in  the 
fields  with  their  wives  and  children,  leading  idle  vagabond 
lives,  meeting  every  night  and  morning  in  their  oratories 
(which  were  buildings  open  at  the  top)  by  the  light  of 
lamps,  to  sing  spiritual  songs,  and  to  pray  without  inter- 
ruption. St.  Epiphanius  tells  us,  "  they  explained  the- 
*'  texts  of  Scripture  concerning  selling  all  their  goods,  and 
*'  of  praying  without  intermission,  according  to  the  rigour 
"  of  the  letter."  Like  the  Convulsionarists,  the  Ceven- 
nes,  and  other  modern  fanatics,  they  pretended  to  visions 
and  wonderful  illuminations,  in  which  much  is  to  be  as- 
cribed to  a  heated  imagination,  though  it  seems  not  to  be 
doubted  but,  by  the  divine  permission,  they  sometimes 
suffered  extraordinary  impulses  and  illusions  from  the  devil. 
St.  Cyril,  Archbishop  of  Jerusalem,  and  successor  to  St. 
Maximus,  flourished  in  this  century.  He  received  the 
degrees  of  the  council  of  Nice  and  of  the  council  of  Sar- 
dica,  in  the  year  349,  and  made  an  undaunted  profession 
of  the  Consubstantial  Trinity,  in  his  letter  to  Constantius 
tlie  Emperor.  He  assisted  in  the  year  381,  at  the  gene- 
ral council  of  Constantinople,  and  joined  with  the  other 
bishops  in  condemning  the  Semi-Arians  and  Macedonians. 
He  preached  to  the  faithful  every  Sunday,  and  performed 
for  several  years  the  office  of  catechist,  to  instruct  and 
prepare  the  catechumens,  who  ordinarily  remained  two 
years  in  the  course  of  instruction  and  prayer,  and  were  not 
admitted  to  Baptism  till  they  had  given  proof  of  their 
morals  and  conduct,  as  well  as  of  their  constancy  in  the 
faith.  The  beginning  of  his  episcopacy  was  remarkable  for 
a  prodigy,  by  which  God  was  pleased  to  honour  the  in- 
strument of  our  redemption.  It  is  related  by  Socrates, 
Philostorgius,  the  Chronicle  of  Alexandria,  &c.    St.  Cyril, 


15^  HlStORY   OF   Tllfe 

who  was  an  eye-witness,  and  wrote  immediately  to  the 
Emperor  Constantius  an  exact  account  of  this  miraculous 
phaenomenon.  *'  On  the  seventh  of  May,  about  nine  in 
"  the  morning,  avast  kiminous  body  in  the  form  of  a  cross 
"  appeared  in  the  heavens,  just  over  the  holy  Golgotha, 
"  reaching  as  far  as  the  holy  Mount  of  Olivet  (that  is,  almost 
**  two  English  miles  in  length)  seen  not  by  one  or  two  per- 
**  sons,  but  clearly  and  evidently  by  the  whole  city.  It  was 
"  not  a  momentary  transient  phaenomenon,  for  it  continued 
"  several  hours  together  visible  to  our  eyes,  and  brighter 
**  than  the  sun  ;  the  light  of  which  would  have  eclipsed 
"  it,  had  not  this  been  stronger.  The  whole  city,  struck 
'*  with  a  reverential  fear  tempered  with  joy,  ran  imme- 
**  diately  to  the  church,  young  and  old,  Christians  and 
**  Heathens,  citizens  and  strangers,  all  with  one  voice  giv- 
'*  ing  praise  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  Son  of 
**  God,  the  worker  of  miracles,  finding  by  experience  the 
**  truth  of  the  Christian  doctrine  to  which  the  Heathens 
**  bear  witness."  Philostorgius,  and  the  Alexandrian 
Chronicle  affirm,  that  the  cross  of  light  was  encircled 
with  a  large  rainbow  ;  nor  could  it  be  deemed  a  natural 
solar  Halo,  since  both  experience  and  the  natural  cause 
of  Halos  show,  that  they  do  not  appear  in  the  figure  of  a 
cross,  but  a  ring  or  circle.  ^'  It  is  an  ugly  circumstance, 
"  says  Mr.  Jortin,  and  I  wish  we  could  fairly  get  rid  of 
*'  it."  But  those  who  can  explain  the  Scripture  account  of 
the  passage  of  the  Israelites  through  the  Red  Sea  by  a  na- 
tural strong  wind,  and  an  extraordinary  ebbing  of  the 
waters,  can  find  no  knot  too  hard  for  them,but  can  swallow 
Contradictions  and  build  hypotheses  far  more  wonderful 
than  the  greatest  miracles,  when  they  wish  to  deny  a 
supernatural  interposition. 

The  catechetical  sermons,  which  St.  Cyril  preached  for 
the  instruction  of  the  catechumens  to  prepare  them  for 
Baptism  and  the  holy  Communion,  consist  of  eighteen  to 
the  Competentes,  or  illuminali,  that  is,  catechumens  before 
Baptism,  and  of  five  mystagogic  discourses,  addressed  to 
the  catechumens  after  they  were  initiated  in  the  holy 
mysteries  of  Baptism,  Confirmation,  and  the  Eucharist, 
which  were  not  fully  expounded  to  such  as  were  not 
initiated  out  of  respect,  and  for  fear  of  giving  occasion  to 
their  profanation  by  the  blasphemies  of  infidels.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  important  works  of  antiquity.     It  is  evi- 


CHURCH   OP    CHRIST.  153 

dent  from  six  hundred  passages  in  these  discourses,  that 
they  were  dehvered  in  Jerusalem  about  the  middle  of  the 
fourth  century,  seventy  years  after  Manes  broached  hisj 
heresy.  In  these  discourses  he  gives  a  summary  of  the 
Christian  faith,  reckons  up  the  canonical  books  of  Scrip- 
ture, explains  very  distinctly  and  clearly  every  article  of 
our  creed,  extols  exceedingly  the  state  of  virginity,  calls 
the  lent  the  greatest  time  of  fasting  and  penance,  recom- 
mends on  all  occasions  the  tenderest  devotion  to  the  holy 
cross  of  Christ,  inculcates  the  honour  due  to  the  relics  of 
saints,  proves  that  the  holy  Catholic  Church  cannot  fail 
or  err,  instructs  his  Neophytes  perfectly  in  the  myste- 
ries of  the  sacraments  of  Baptism,  Confirmation,  and  the 
Eucharist,  w^hich  it  v^'as  thought  a  profanation  to  explain 
fully  to  any  before  Baptism. — He  teaches  them,  that 
Baptism  imprints  an  indelible  signet,  or  spiritual  character 
on  the  soul,  that  the  character  or  signet  of  the  commu- 
nication of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  by  confirmation  imprinted 
on  the  soul,  whilst  the  forehead  is  anointed  with  chrism, 
after  Baptism.  He  teaches,  that  Baptism  perfectly 
remits  all  sin  5  but  penance,  the  remedy  for  sins  after  it, 
does  not  quite  efface  them,  as  wounds  that  are  healed 
leave  still  scars.  He  attributes  great  virtue  to  the  exor- 
cisms, and  to  the  blessed  oil  and  mystical  ointment.  He 
explains  the  force  of  the  baptismal  renunciations  of  the 
■Kevil  and  his  pomps,  and  what  the  other  ceremonies  of 
"neaptism  mean.  In  the  twenty-second  and  twenty-third 
mystagogic  catecheses,  he  explains  the  blessed  Eucharist, 
and  the  hturgy  or  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  and  Communion. 
^  As  to  the  blessed  Eucharist,  he  says,  by  it  we  are  made 
wimmcorporeal  and  consanguineal  with  Christ,  by  his  body  and 
hlood  being  distributed  through  our  bodies.  Cat.  22.  n.  1. 
3.  He  explains  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  here  in 
so  plain  terms,  that  no  one  who  reads  this  twenty-second 

I^techesis,  (n.  1.  2.  3.  6.  p.  32.  320.-and  321.)  can  doubt 
■  its  being  the  faith  of  the  Church  in  the  fourth  century. 
m.  the  twenty -third  and  last  catechesis  he  calls  the  Mass 
HI  unbloody  sacrifice,  a  victim  of  propitiation,  a  supreme 
^orship.  He  explains  the  preface  and  other  principal 
parts  of  it,  especially  the  communion.  He  expounds  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  mentions  the  commemorations  for  the 
living  and  the  dead.  Of  the  latter  he  writes  thus,  n.  9.  p. 
328.     ^^We«»also  pray   for  the  deceased  holy  fathers, 


154  HISTORY   OF   THE 

f 

'*  bishops,  and  all  in  general  who  are  dead,  believing  that 
**  this  will  be  a  great  succour  to  those  souls  for  which 
**  prayer  is  offered,  whilst  the  holy  and  most  tremendous 
**  victim  hes  present."  ■» 

The  great  St.  John  Chrysostom  holds  an  eminent  place 
among  the  most  illustrious  doctors  and  holy  pastors  of 
the  Church  of  the  fourth  century.  He  was  born  about 
the  year  344,  at  Antioch,  the  capital  city  of  the  East.  He 
was  surnamed  Ch^sostom  or  Golden  Mouth,  on  account  of 
the  fluency  and  sweetness  of  his  eloquence.  St.  Augus- 
tine, St.  Nilus,  St.  Isidore  of  Pelusium,  and  others,  style 
him  the  wise  interpreter  of  the  secrets  of  God,  the  lamp 
of  virtue,  the  most  shining  star  of  the  earth,  and  sun  of 
the  universe.  He  was  ordained  deacon  by  St.  Meletius, 
and  priest  by  St.  Flavian,  who  constituted  him  his  vicar 
and  ordinary  preacher  at  Antioch,  which  contained  at 
that  time  a  hundred  thousand  souls.  All  these  he  fed 
with  the  word  of  God,  preaching  several  days  in  the  week, 
and  frequently  several  times  on  the  same  day.  The 
instruction  and  care  of  the  poor,  he  regarded  as  his  first 
obligation,  and  always  made  his  favourite  employment  and 
delight.  He  never  ceased  in  his  sermons  to  plead  their 
cause,  and  to  recommend  to  the  people  the  precept  of 
alms  deeds.  Nothing  could  withstand  the  united  power 
of  his  eloquence,  zeal  and  piety,  during  the  tv.clve  years 
that  he  discharged  the  duties  of  his  arduous  station  at 
Antioch.  He  auolished  the  most  inveterate  abuses, 
repressed  vice,  and  changed  the  whole  face  of  that  great 
city.  After  the  death  of  Nectarius,  he  was  consecrated 
Archbishop  of  Constantinople,  in  the  year  398,  for  the 
benefit  of  innumerable  souls.  He  suppressed  the  wicked 
custom  of  swearing,  first  at  Antioch,  then  at  Constantino- 
ple. By  his  charity  and  zeal,  he  tamed  the  fiercest  sin- 
ners, and  changed  them  into  meek  lambs.  He  preached 
against  immodesty  of  dress  and  extravagance,  pomp  and 
vanity  of  women,  with  such  success,  that  he  persuaded 
the  ladies  of  Constantinople  to  despise  and  lay  aside  the 
vise  of  purple,  silks,  and  jewels,  and  to  consider  clothing 
as  the  covering  of  the  ignominy  of  sin,  and  a  memorial 
of  the  fall  of  our  first  parents,  which  ought  to  be  an  instru- 
ment of  penance,  and  a  motive  of  confusion  and  tears, 
rather  than  of  pride  and  vanity.  The  voluminous  excel- 
lent writings  of  this  glorious  doctor,  are  a  rich  and  com* 


CHURCH   OF   CHRIST.  155 

plete  treasure  of  the  maxims  of  Christian  virtue,  and 
make  his  standing-  and  most  authentic  eulogium.  The 
benedictine  edition  of  his  works,  in  twelve  tomes,  by  Don 
Montfaucon,  in  the  year  1718,  is  of  all  others  the  most 
comlpete  ;  he  wrote  comments  on  the  whole  Scripture, 
and  beautiful  instructions  and  sermons  almost  upon  every 
Christian  virtue  and  duty.  His  commentaries  on  St 
Matthew  are  full  of  such  admirable  instruction,  that  St. 
Thomas  of  Aquin  said,  he  would  rather  be  master  of  this 
single  book,  than  of  the  whole  city  of  Paris.  Nothing 
can  be  stronger  or  more  tender  than  the  manner  in  which 
he  expresses  his  charity  and  solicitude  for  his  flock.  When 
lie  touches  this  topic,  his  words  are  all  fire  and  flame,  and 
seem  to  breathe  the  fervour  of  St.  Peter,  the  zeal  of  St. 
Paul,  and  the  charity  of  Moses.  He  often  recommends 
the  advantages  and  necessity  of  assiduous  prayer,  with 
singular  energy.  Speaking  of  prayers  for  the  souls  of 
the  faithful  departed,  he  says,  Hom.  3.  tom.  11.  p.  217. 
that  it  is  a  wholesome  ordinance  of  the  Apostles  in  their 
favour  to  commemorate  them  in  the  adorable  mysteries, 
in  presence  of  the  adorable  sacrifice.  In  his  sermon  on 
Lent  he  strongly  inculcates  the  obligation  of  fasting,  and 
informs  that  Christians  in  that  penitential  season  abstain- 
ed from  wine  and  fish,  no  less  than  from  fowls  and  flesh. 
In  his  homilies  on  Penance,  he  condemns  stage  entertain- 
ments, as  schools  of  the  Devil,  the  seat  of  pestilence,  the 
furnace  of  Babylon,  and  strong  incentives  to  vice,  as  they 

Erve  to  feed  concupiscence  and  inflame  the  passions,  by 
[ministering  the  fnel  which  should  be  withdrawn,  accord- 
g  to  the  well  known  maxim:  Take  away  the  fuel  and  you 
take  away  the  Jia^ne.  Sublrahe  ligna  foco,  si  vis  extinguere 
flammam.  He  frequently  speaks  of  the  miracles  wrought 
by  the  relics  of  St.  Babylas,  and  at  the  tombs  of  other 
i  holy  martyrs.  In  his  54.  homil.  on  St.  Matthew,  speak- 
ing of  the  sign  of  the  holy  cross,  he  says  ;  "  Let  us  carry 
^^  about  the  cross  of  Christ  as  a  crown,  and  let  us  not 
"  blush  at  the  ensign  of  salvation.  If  you  form  it  on 
"  your  forehead,  no  unclean  spirit  shall  be  able  to  stand 
"  against  you,  w]hen  he  beholds  this  instrument,  which  has 
*'  given  him  the  mortal  stab,  and  which  has  broken  down 
*'  the  gates  of  Hell,  unbolted  those  of  paradise,  and  open- 
"  ed  its  glory  to  us."  In  his  farewell  sermon,  speaking 
of  the  unjust  persecution  he  suflfered  at  Constantinople, 


t56  HISTORY   OP   THE 

he  says:  "  Violent  storms  encompass  me  on  all  sides,  yet 
"  I  am  without  fear,  because  I  stand  upon  a  rock.  Though 
"  the  sea  roar,  and  the  waves  rise  high,  they  cannot  sink 
"  the  vessel  of  Jesus.  I  fear  not  death,  which  is  my  gain; 
"  nor  banishment,  for  the  whole  earth  is  the  Lord's  ;  nor 
'^  the  loss  of  goods,  for  I  came  naked  into  the  world,  and 
*^  must  leave  it  in  the  same  condition.  The  terrors, 
*^  smiles,  and  frowns  of  the  world  are  to  me  more  con- 
"  temptible  than  a  spider's  web.  I  always  say,  O  Lord, 
"  may  thy  will  be  done.  What  it  shall  please  thee  to  ap- 
"  point,  that  shall  I  do  and  suffer  with  joy.  This  is  my 
"  strong  tower  ;  this  is  my  unshaken  rock  ;  this  is  my  staff 
"  that  can  never  fail."  But  he  expresses  himself  on  no 
subject  with  greater  tenderness  or  force,  than  on  the  ex- 
cess of  the  divine  love  which  is  displayed  in  the  holy 
Eucharist,  and  in  exhorting  the  faithful  to  the  frequent 
use  of  that  heavenly  sacrament.  He  recommends  the 
the  most  profound  respect  for  it,  and  frequently  speaks 
of  the  enormity  of  a  sacrilegious  communion.  He  calls 
the  blessed  Eucharist  the  tremendous  mystery,  the  mira- 
cle of  mysteries,  the  body  that  was  scourged,  that  was 
pierced  with  nails,  and  fastened  to  the  cross.  He  charges 
us  not  to  contradict  the  words  of  Christ,  but  to  captivate 
our  reason  and  understanding  in  obeying  him,  and  believ- 
ing his  word,  which  cannot  deceive  us,  whereas  our 
senses  often  lead  us  into  mistakes.  He  desires  us  to  con- 
sider this  mystery  with  spiritual  eyes,  and  to  believe 
Christ,  when  he  tells  us.  This  is  my  Body.  He  exhorts 
us  to  approach  the  holy  table  with  a  vehement  hunger 
and  thirst  after  this  divine  banquet,  and  says,  that  to  be 
deprived  of  this  heavenly  food,  ought  to  be  to  us  the  most 
sensible,  nay,  our  only  grief.  Tom.  7.  horn.  82.  In  his 
first  Homily  On  the  Treason  of  Judas^  he  says,  that 
*'  Christ  gives  us  in  the  Eucharist  the  same  body  which 
"  he  delivered  to  death  for  us,  and  that  he  refused  not  to 
'^present  to  Judas  the  very  blood  which  that  traitor  sold." 
Hom.  1.  t.  2.  p.  383.  He  repeats  the  same  thing,  Hom. 
2.  p.  393.  In  fine,  he  exhorts  sinners  to  hope  in  the  mercy 
of  Christ,  '*  who,  leaving  the  earth,  left  us  his  own  flesh, 
"  which  yet  he  carried  with  him  into  heaven,  and  that 
"  blood,  whicb  he  spilt  for  us,  he  again  imparted  to 
"  us.  After  this,  what  will  he  refuse  to  do  for  our  salva- 
tion ?" 


I 


CIIURC'H    or   CHRIST,  lol 

AiireliuS  Prudentius  Clemens,  the  most  learned  of  the 
Christian  poets,  flourished  in  the  days  of  St.  John  Chry- 
sostom,  being  born  in  the  year  348,  in  Old  Castile,  in 
Spain.  This  age  likewise  produced  the  great  servant  of 
God  and  holy  doctor  St.  Epiphanius,  who  was  born  about 
the  year  310,  in  the  territory  of  Eleutheropolis,  in  Pales- 
tine. He  was  raised  to  th<i  archiepiscopal  see  of  Salamis, 
m  Cyprus,  about  the  year  367,  a-'l  governed  it  with  great 
piety,  zeal,  and  sanctity,  thirty-six  years.  Sozomen  tes- 
tifies, that  God  honourefl  his  tomb  with  miracles,  1.  27,  c. 
27.  His  works  are  published  by  the  learned  Petavius,  in 
two  volumes,  folio,  but  the  original  Greek  must  be  con- 
sulted by  those  who  desire  to  avoid  some  mistakes,  which 
are  said  to  be  in  the  translation.  In  his  Anchoret  he  ex- 
plains the  principal  articles  of  the  Catholic  faith.  In  his 
Panarium^  or  box  of  Antidotes  against  all  heresies,  he 
gives  the  history  of  twenty  heresies  before  Christ,  and  of 
four-score  since  the  promulgation  of  the  Gospel.  These 
heresies  he  confutes  by  the  Scriptures  and  tradition.  He 
justifies  the  practice,  and  proves  the  obligation  of  praying 
for  the  dead,  and  admires  how  Arius  could  presume  to 
abolish  the  fasts  of  Wednesdays  and  Fridays,  ivhichy  he 
says,  a?'e  observed  hy  Uie  ivhole  earthy  and  i^mt  by  apostolical 
uuthority.     Hasr.  76. 

About  the  same  time  lived  the  holy  Bishop  of  Gaza,  St„ 
Porphyrius,  who  in  the  year  378,  consecrated  himself  to 
God,  in  a  famous  monastery  in  the  desert  of  Scete.  The 
writers  of  his  life  testify  that  he  converted  a  great  num- 
ber of  idolaters  by  his  illustrious  miracles,  and  the  emi- 
nent sanctity  of  his  life.  Besides  tliese,  and  many  other 
lioly  prelates  who  flourished  in  the  fourth  century,  par- 
ticularly the  four  chief  doctors  of  the  Eastern  or  Greek 
Church,  viz.  St.  Athanasius,  St.  Pasil,  St.  Gregory  Na- 
zianzen,  and  St.  John  Chrysostom,  thi^e  out  of  the  four 
chief  doctors  of  the  Western  or  Latin  Church,  were  like- 
wise born  in  the  same  century.  St.  Jerom  was  born  ia 
the  year  329,  St.  Ambrose  about  the  year  340,  St.  Au- 
gustine on  the  13th  of  November,  in  the  year  354.  St. 
Jerom  being  instructed  in  piety,  and  in  the  first  principles 
of  literature  at  home,  at  Stridonium,  a  small  town  upon 
the  confines  of  Pannonia,  Dalmatia,  and  Italy,  near  Aqui- 
leia,  was  sent  by  his  parents  to  Rome,  where  he  had  for 
his  tutors  the  famous  Donatus  and  Victorinus,  and  made 
O 


15^8  HISTORY    OF  THE 

an  amazing  progress  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  langnages^r 
as  well  as  in  oratory.  A  vehement  thirst  after  learning 
made  him  undertake  a  tour  through  Gaul,  where  the  Ro- 
mans had  erected  several  famous  schools.  When  he  ar^ 
rived  at  Triers,  with  his  friend  Bonosus,  the  sentiments  of 
piety,  which  he  had  imbibed  in  his  infancy,  were  awaked, 
and  his  heart  being  entirely  converted  to  God,  he  took  a 
resolution  to  renounce  all  the  vanities  of  the  world,  and 
to  devote  himself  wholly  to  the  divine  service,  in  a  state 
of  perpetual  continence,  as  he  informs  us  in  his  first  Epis- 
tle, p.  3.  He  repaired  therefore  to  Aquileia,  and  shut 
himself  up  f'or  some  time  in  a  monastery,  that  was  famous 
for  many  eminent  and  learned  men.  He  afterwards  re- 
tired to  a  hideous  desert,  lying  between  Syria  and  Arabia, 
where  he  spent  four  years  in  studies,  and  the  fervent  ex- 
ercises of  piety,  self-denial,  and  mortification.  He  there 
learned  the  Hebrew  alphabet  frotn  a  converted  Jew,  and 
neglected  no  means  to  perfect  himself  in  the  knowledge 
of  the  Hebrew  languajre.  Before  the  end  of  the  year 
377,  he  received  the  holy  order  of  px-iesthood  from  the 
hands  of  Paulinus,  Patriarch  of  Antiocb.  About  the  year 
380,  he  went  to  Constantinople,  some  short  time  after 
])eing  called  to  Rome  by  Pope  Damasus,  he  was  em- 
ployed by  him  in  answering  the  consultations  of  Bishops, 
and  in  other  important  affairs  of  the  Church.  The  letters 
is£  this  holy  doctor  contain  excellent  advice  and  instruc- 
tions for  various  states  and  conditions.  All  the  heresies 
which  were  broached  in  his  time,  found  in  him  a  warm 
and  indefatigable  adversary.  Damasus  dying  in  the  year 
384,  St.  Jerom  returned  into  the  East,  there  to  seek  a 
quiet  retreat  in  the  holy  palaces  of  Palestine,  particularly 
at  Bethlehem,  which  was  his  favourite  and  usual  residence. 
At  Alexandria  he  met  the  famous  Didymus,  and  as  he 
tells  us,  profited  very  much  by  his  conversation. — ^There 
never  seems  to  have  been  a  more  wonderful  example  of  a 
learned  blind  man,  than  this  X>idymus.  St.  Jerom,  So- 
crates, Sozomen,  and  Theodoret  assure  us,  that  he  lost 
his  sight  by  a  humour  which  fell  upon  both  his  eyes  in  his 
infancy,  when  he  just  began  to  learn  the  alphabet.  Ne- 
vertheless, he  afterward  got  the  letters  of  the  alphabet 
cut  in  wood,  and  learned  to  distinguish  them  by  the  touch. 
With  the  assistance  of  hired  readers  and  copiers  he  be- 
came acquainted  with  almost  all  authors  sacred  and  pro- 


CHURCH   OP    CHRIST.  l5& 

fane,  and  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  grammar, 
logic,  arithmetic,  music,  geometry,  astronomy,  the  philo- 
sophy of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  and  chiefly  a  knowledge  of 
the  holy  Scriptures,  so  ihat  he  was  esteemed  a  kind  of 
prodigy.  He  added  prayer  to  study,  and  acquired  such 
reputation  by  his  learning  and  piety,  that  the  great  school 
of  Alexandria  was  committed  to  his  care.  He  was  born 
about  the  year  308,  and  lived  four-score  and  five  years. 
He  composed  commentaries  on  the  Scriptures  and  several 
other  works,  which  are  lost.  His  book  against  the  Mace- 
donian heretics  is  extant  in  St.  Jerom's  Latin  translation. 

St.  Jerom  wrote  the  lives  of  St.  Paul,  the  first  hermit : 
of  St.  Hilarion,  and  of  St.  Malchus  the  anchoret,  with  a 
most  useful  catalogue  of  illustrious  men,  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal wwters.  He  drew  his  pen  against  the  Luciferian 
schismatics,  and  ably  refuted  the  iv^pious  errors  of  Hel- 
vidius,  Jovinian,  Vigilantius,  Eunomius,  Pelagius,  &c.  for 
the  holy  doctor  could  sufler  no  heresy  to  pass  without 
censure.  A  new  edition  of  St.  Jerom's  works  has  been 
published  in  ten  volumes,  folio,  by  an  Itahan  Oratorian, 
and  another  by  Dom  Martinuay,  a  Maurist  Monk,  with 
the  life  of  this  father,  and  many  useful  notes.  But  nothing 
has  rendered  the  name  of  St.  Jerom  so  famous,  as  his 
critical  labours  on  the  holy  Scriptures.  Having  retired 
to  the  sacred  grotto  of  Bethlehem,  he  undertook  immense 
pains  in  order  to  expound  these  divine  oracles.  He  read 
all  the  interpreters,  and  searched  all  the  histories  both 
sacred  and  profane,  that  could  give  any  light  to  this  ar- 
duous undertaking.  He  seems  to  have  been  raised  by 
God,  through  a  special  Providence,  for  this  purpose,  and 
to  have  been  inspired  and  divinely  assisted  therein.  He 
composed  from  the  original  Hebrew  and  from  the  Greek, 
that  version  of  the  Bible,  which  all  the  Western  churches 
have  received  under  the  name  of  the  Latin  Vulgate,  -and 
which  is  now  every  where  in  use.  St.  Prosper  tells  us  in 
his  chronicle,  that  this  great  doctor,  after  a  life  of  pe»- 
nance  and  labours,  was  released  from  the  prison  of  his  body 
in  the  year  420,  on  the  30th  of  September,  and  conse- 
quently in  the  91st  year  of  his  age. 

The  common  suffrage  of  all  antiquity  has  ranked  St. 
Ambrose,  Archbishop  of  Milan,  among  the  four  great  doc- 
tors of  the  Latin  Church.  He  received  the  episcopal 
consecration  in  the  year  374,  in  the  reign  of  Valeiitinian 


160  HISJORT    OF    TITE 

I.  and  pureed  the  diocese  of  Milan  of  the  leaven  of  the 
Arian  heresy  with  wonderful  success.  His  instructions' 
were  enforced  by  an  admirable  innocence  and  purity  of 
manners,  prayer,  rigorous  abstinence,  and  frequent  fasts. 
— He  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  service  of  liis  flock, 
and  every  day  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  altar  for 
his  people.  Epist.  20.  His  charities  were  as  extensive 
as  the  necessities  of  human  nature,  and  he  styled  the 
poor,  his  stewards  and  treasurers,  in  whose  hands  he  de- 
posited his  revenues.  He  even  caused  the  golden  vessels  of 
the  Church  to  be  broken  and  melted  down  for  the  re- 
demption of  captives.  He  is  said  to  have  first  introduced 
into  the  West  the  custom  of  singing  hymns  in  the  church, 
several  of  which  he  composed,  and  are  still  used  in  the 
divine  service.  After  the  death  of  Valentinian  I.  and  of 
Gratian  his  eldest  son,  the  Empress  Justina,  widow  of 
Valentinian  I.  and  moiher  of  Valentinian  II.  residing  then 
at  Milan,  and  being  a  violent  abettor  of  Arianism,  perse^ 
cuted  the  Catholics  of  that  city,  and  used  her  utmost  en- 
deavours to  expel  their  holy  Prelate  St.  Ambrose,  because 
he  refused  to  deliver  up  (he  Basilics  to  the  Arians,  to  hold 
their  assemblies  therein.  But  an  end  was  put  to  this  per- 
secution by  the  discovery  of  their  relics  of  SS.  Gervasius 
and  Protasius,  in  the  year  3B6,  as  St.  Augustine  testifies. 
St.  Ambrose  gives  an  account  thereof,  Ep.  2.  and  in  two 
sermons,  which  he  preached  on  the  occasion  of  the  trans- 
lation of  these  relics  to  a  new  Church  which  at  present 
is  called  from  him  the  Amhrosian  Basilic.  He  assures  us, 
that  many  possessed  persons  were  delivered,  and  many 
sick  healed  by  those  relics,  and  by  the  towels  and  hand- 
kerchiefs laid  upon  them.  In.  particular,  he  mentions  a 
blind  man  named  Severus,  who  was  miraculously  cured 
during  the  translation,  by  touching  the  bier,  on  which  the 
rehcs  layj  with  an  handkerchief,  and  then  applying  it  to 
his  eyes.  He  had  been  blind  several  years,  was  known 
to  the  whole  city,  and  the  miracle  was  performed  before 
a  prodigious  number  of  people,  as  St.  Augustine,  who  wa* 
then  at  Milan,  assures  us  in  three  several  parts  of  his  works. 
.St.  Ambrose  made  the  administration  of  the  sacrament  of 
penance  a  chief  part  of  his  pastoral  care.  St.  Paulinus 
tells  us,  that  whenever  any  persons  confessed  their  sins  to 
him,  in  order  to  receive  penance,  he  shed  such  an  abun- 
dance of  tearS;  as  to  make  the  penitent  also  weep.  In  hi? 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  161 

tvritings  he  explains  all  the  parts  and  duties  of  penance* 
Speaking  of  the  obligation  of  confessing  sins,  he  says,  1.  2 
de  Poenit.  c.  6.  '*  If  thou  wilt  be  justified,  confess  thj 
*'  crime,  for  an  humble  confession  loosens  the  bonds  of 
"  sin."  In  his  two  books  Of  Penance,  against  the  Nova- 
tians,  he  shows  that  absolution  is  to  be  given  to  penitents 
for  all  sins,  however  grievous,  provided  tiieir  penitence  be 
condign  and  sincere.  In  his  book  On  the  Mysteries,  he 
exhorts  the  faithful  to  fi'equent  communion,  because  the 
holy  Eucharist  is  our  spirit,  food,  and  daily  nourishment. 
He  expounds  the  ceremonies  of  Baptism  and  Confirma- 
tion, and  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  iil'the  clearest 
terms.  After  having  explained  the  eminent  types  of  the 
Eucharist,  as  the  sacrifice  of  Melchisedech,  the  manna, 
and  the  water  flowing  out  of  the  rock,  he  urges  the  exam- 
ple of  the  rod  of  Moses  changed  into  a  serpent,  and  seve- 
ral other  miracles,  to  show  that  the  power  of  consecratioa 
changes  nature  itself.  "  Jesus  Christ,"  says  he,  '*  had 
"  real  flesh,  which  was  fastened  on  the  cross,  and  laid  in 
**  the  sepulchre:  The  Eucharist  is  the  true  sacrament  of 
*'  this  flesh.  Christ  himself  assures  us  of  it.  This  is,  says 
he,  my  Body.  Before  the  benediction  of  these  heavenly 
words,  it  is  of  another  nature,  after  the  consecration,  it 
is  the  body.  If  man's  benediction  has  been  capable  of 
changing  the  nature  of  things,  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
divine  consecration,  wherein  the  very  words  of  our  Sa- 
viour himself  operate  .'*  Th«  word  of  Jesus  Christ, 
^^  which  could  make  that  out  of  nothing  which  was  not, 
"  can  it  not  change  that  which  is,  into  what  it  was  not  .?" 
St.  Ambrose  wrote  three  books  in  praise  of  the  holy  state 
of  Virginity,  a  treatise  on  TFidoichood,  a  work  on  the  Di- 
rinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  another  on  the  Incarnation,  and 
five  books  on  the  Trinity,  which  are  an  excellent  confuta- 
tion of  the  Arian  heresy.  In  his  funeral  discourse  on 
Valentinian  the  younger,  who  was  murdered  in  392,  at 
twenty  years  of  age,  whilst  a  catechumen,  the  holy  doctor 
says  :  Lift  up  your  hands  with  me,  O  "people  !  Let  us  icith 
pious  earnestness  beg  repose  for  his  soul.  He  died  on  the 
4th  of  April,  in  the  year  397. 

St.  Augustine,  a  native  of  Tagaste  in  Africa,  was  one 

of  the  most  glorious  doctors  and  brightest  luminaries  of 

the  Church  since  the  days  of  the  Apostles.     His  very 

ii-ame  is  an  eulogium  that  raises  an  exalted  idea,  and  com- 

02 


u 


162  HISTORY   OP   THE 

f 

tnands  profound  respect.  His*conversion  happened  In  the 
year  386,  the  thirty-second  of  his  age.  He  was  baptized 
by  St,  Ambrose  on  Easter-eve,  in  387,  ordained  priest  by 
Valerius,  about  the  end  of  the  year  390,  and  consecrated 
Bishop  in  395.  He  was  a  perfect  model  of  penance,  of 
humihty,  of  piety,  of  charity,  of  gentleness,  and  every 
Christian  virtue.  There  perhaps  jiever  was*  a  man  en- 
dowed by  nature  with  a  more  affectionate  and  friendly 
soul.  In  him,  as  in  a  mirror,  may  be  seen  a  perfect 
Bishop,  and  such  as  St.  Paul  describes.  He  exercised 
hospitahty  in  his .  episcopal  house,  and  engaged  all  the 
priests,  deacons,  and  sub-deacons,  who  lived  with  him,  to 
renounce  all  property,  and  to  embrace  the  rule  and  man- 
ner of  life  he  established  there.  Herein  he  was  imitated 
by  several  other  Bishops,  and  this  was  the  orijijirial  of  re- 
gular canons,  in  imitation  of  the  Apostles.  Possidius  tells 
us,  that  his  table  was  frugal ;  that  at  it  he  loved  rather 
reading,  or  literary  conferences,  than  secular  conversa- 
tion, and  to  warn  his  guests  to  shun  detraction  he  had  the 
following  verses  in  their  view  : 

"  Quisqiiis  amat  dictis  ahsenlum  voder e  vitain  j 
Heme  meiisam  vetitam  noverit  esse  si6i." 

T'his  board  allows  no  vile  detractor  place, 

IVliose  tongue  shall  charge  the  absent  with  disgrace. 

His  labours  were  immense,  and  his  zeal  for  the  hduse  of 
God,  and  for  the  Salvation  of  souls,  was  indefatigable. 
All  his  voluminous  writings  plainly  show  how  full  his  soul 
was  of  the  love  of  God.  The  Benedictine  edition  of  his 
works,  in  eleven  tomes,  folio,  is  more  correct  than  any 
other.  Divine  Providence  raised  him  up  to  be  an  invin- 
cible champion  of  faith,  and  a  bulwark  for  the  defence  of 
the  truth,  against  the  numerous  brood  of  heresies,  that 
started  up  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  He  pursued 
the  Manicheans,  the  Arians,  the  Donatists,  and  other  sec- 
taries of  his  days  through  the  various  mazes  and  labyrinths 
of  their  errors  and  delusions,  and  destroyed  the  many- 
headed  hydra.  To  him  is  the  Church  indebted,  as  to  the 
chief  instrument  of  God,  in  overthrowing  the  dangerous 
and  formidable  heresy  that  w^as  broached  and  propagat- 
ed by  Pelagius,  a  Briton,  by  Celestius,  a  Scotchman  (a 
fellow,  says  St.  Jerom,  bloated  with  Scotch  gruels)  and  by 
their  successors  the  Semi-pelagians  of  Lerns  and  Mat- 


©HURCH   OF    CHRIST.  16'3 

seilles.  In  liis  book  againj^t  the  fundamental  Epistle  of 
Manes,  c.  4.  he  lays  down  his  reasons  for  adhering  to  the 
Catholic  Church  in  these  terms:  "  Several  motives  keep 
"  me  in  the  bosom  of  tlie  Catholic  Church.  The  ^ene- 
"  ral  consent  of  nations  and  people :  an  authority  grounded 
*'  upon  miracles,  upheld  by  hope,  perfected  with  charity) 
^*  and  confirmed  by  antiquity:  a  succession  of  Bishops 
**  descending  from  the  see  of  St,  Peter  to  our  time,  and  the 
"  name  of  Catholic,  which  i.s  so  peculiar  to  the  true 
*'  Church — I  would  not  believe  the  Gospel,  if  the  autho- 
*'  rity  of  the  Church  did  not  move  me  thereto."  In  his 
psalm  agahist  the  Donatist  schismatics,  he  says  to  them, 
*'  Come,  brethren^  if  ye  have  a  mind  to  be  ingrafted  in  the 
*^  vine.  It  is  a  pity  to  see  you  lie  in  this  manner  lopped  off 
**  from  the  stock.  Reckon  up  the  prelates  in  the  very 
*'  see  of  Peter  ;  and  in  that  order  of  "fathers  see  which 
*'  has  succeeded  whicli.  Tiiis  is  the  rock  over  which  the 
*' proud  gates  of  bell  prevail  not,"  In  his  20th  book 
against  Faustus,  he  says,  that  ''  the  Catholics  honoured 
*'  the  saints  and  holy  martyrs,  in  order  to  partake  of  their 
"  merits,  to  be  assisted  b}^  their  prayers,  and  excited  to 
*'  imitate  their  examples,  bvit  never  paid  to  them  the  wor- 
*^  ship  of  latria,  which  is  due  to  God  alone,  nor  offered  sa- 
*'  crifice  to  them, but  only  to  God  in  thanksgiving  for  their 
*'  graces."  In  his  sermons  he  often  inculcates  assiduous 
meditation  on  the  four  last  things,  frequently  mentions 
Purgatory,  and  strongly  recommends  prayerand sacrifices 
for  the  repose  of  the  faithful  departed.  Serm.  172.  He 
.^speaks  of  holy  images  of  Christ,  St.  Peter  and  Paul,  St. 
Stephen,  and  of  the  respect  due  to  the  sign  of  the  cross, 
and  of  miracles  wrought  by  it,  and  by  the  relics  of  martyrs. 
Serm.  88.  and  218.  Several  of  his  letters  are  so  many 
excellent  and  learned  treatises,  which  contain  admirable 
instructions  for  the  practice  of  perfect  virtue.  Inhis36.  54. 
and  55.  Epis.  to  Januanus,  he  lays  down  this  principle, 
that  a  custom  universally  received  in  the  Church,  must 
be  looked  upon  as  a  rule  settled  by  the  Apostles,  or  by  a 
general  council,  and  1.  4.  de  Bapt.  c.  6.  he  says,  that  when 
any  doctrine  is  found  generally  received  in  the  Church 
in  any  age  whatsoever,  whereof  there  is  no  certain  author 
or  beginning  to  be  found,  then  it  is  sure  that  such  a  doc- 
trine comes  down  from  Christ  and  his  Apostles.  In  other 
parts  of  his  writings,  he  speaks  of  the  observance  of  the 


164  HISTORY  OE  THE 

lent,  and  of  the  fasts  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays,  and  of 
several  important  points  of  faith  and  discipline.  Among 
other  things,  he  says  there,  that  though  the  faithful  at 
first  communicated  after  supper,  the  Apostles  afterwards 
ordained,  that  out  of  reverence  to  so  great  a  sacrament, 
all  should  communicate  fasting.  He  says  also,  that  they 
do  well  who  communicate  daily,  provided  it  be  donewor-  , 
thily,  and  with  the  humility  of  Zacheus,  when  he  received 
Christ  under  his  roof;  but.  that  they  are  also  to  be  com- 
mended, who  sometimes  imitate  the  humble  centurion,  and 
set  apart  only  Sundays  or  certain  days  for  communicating, 
in  order  to  do  it  with  greater  devotion.  He  often  en- 
forces the  necessity  of  doing  penance,  and  the  obligation 
and  advantajjes  of  alms-deeds.  He  mentions  his  own 
frequent  indispositions,  and  says,  *'  he  was  confined  to  his 
*^  bed  under  violent  pain,"  but  adds:  *'  Though  I  suffer, 
"  yet  I  am  well,  because  I  am  as  God  would  have  me  to 
"  be."  In  his  84  Epist.  he  says,  "  All  the  martyrs  that 
*'*  are  with  Christ,  intercede  for  us.  Their  prayers  never 
^  cease,  so  long  as  we  continue  our  sighs."  The  Empe- 
ror Theodosius  sent  a  special  messenger  into  Africa  to 
invite  this  eminent  Doctor  to  the  general  council  that  was 
sitmmoned  to  meet  at  Ephesus,  against  Nestorius,  but  he 
was  departed  to  eternal  bliss  on  the  28th  of  August,  in  the 
year  430,  and  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age,  forty 
of  which  he  spent  in  the  labours  of  the  ministry.  St. 
Possidius  informs  us,  that  he  was  present  in  the  city  of 
Hippo,  when  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass  was  offered  to 
God  for  his  recommendation,  before  he  was  buried,  in  the 
same  manner,  that  St.  Augustine  himself,  1.  9.  c.  12. 
Confess,  mentions  to  have  been  done  for  the  soul  of  his 
pious  mother  Monica,  when  she  died  at  Ostia  in  Italy. 

St.  Optatus,  Bishop  of  Milevum  in  Numidia,  was  also 
an  illustrious  champion  of  the  Church  in  the  fourth  age. 
/St.  Augustine  names  him  with  St.  Cyprian  and  St.  Hilary^ 
among  those  who  had  passed  from  the  dark  shades  of 
Paganism  to  the  light  of  faith,  and  carried  into  the  Church 
the  spoils  of  Egypt,  that  is,  human  science  and  eloquence. 
He  was  the  first  Catholic  prelate  who  undertook  by  his 
writings,  to  stem  the  tide  of  the  Donatist  schism, 
which  took  its  rise  in  Africa,  from  a  circumstance  that 
happened  in  the  persecution  of  Dioclesian,  by  the  Tra- 
ditors  delivering  the  holy  Scriptures,  for  feai'  of  torments 


■A 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  •  165 

and  death,  into  the  hands  of  the  persecutors,  that  they  might 
be  burnt.  Parinenian,  the  successor  of  Donatus  the 
schismatical  Bishop  of  Carthage,  and  a  man  well  versed 
in  the  art  of  sophistry,  and  capable  of  covering  the  worst 
cause  with  specious  glosses,  had  written  five  books  in  de- 
fence of  his  s«ct.  Against  this  Goliah,  St.  Optatus 
stepped  forth,  stripped  him  of  his  armour,  in  which  he 
trusted,  and  turned  all  his  artillery  against  himself.  He 
wrote  six  hooks  against  Parmenian,  and  gave  the  Hydra 
a  mortal  blow,  though  the  Donatists  were  very  numerous 
in  Africa  for  above  a  hundred  years,  till  the  zeal  of  St. 
Augustine  almost  extinguished  their  faction.  About  the 
year  347,  a  sect  of  fanatics,  called  Circumcelllons,  sprung 
up  among  the  Donatists,  who  pretending  to  devote  them- 
selves to  martyrdom,  wandered  about  for  some  months  or 
years,  pampering  themselves  as  victims,  fed  for  sacrifice, 
and  at  length  cast  themselves  from  rocks,  or  into  rivers,  or 
any  other  way  laid  violent  hands  upon  themselves,  which 
death  they  called  martyrdom.  Many  of  them  compelled 
strangers  whom  they  met  on  the  high  roads  to  murder 
them.  Some  Catholics^  who  met  them  in  their  mad 
phrensy,  to  save  their  own  lives,  and  not  to  imbrue  their 
hands  in  the  blood  of  these  fanatics,  insisted  first  upon  bind- 
ing them,  before  they  could  proceed  to  do  them  this 
desired  good  turn  in  sacrificing  them  ;  but  when  they  were 
tied,  beat  them  till  they  came  to  their  senses,  and  were 
eontented  to  live,  as  Theodoret  assures  us.  Such  are  the 
wild  chimeras  and  extravagancies  into  v/hich  men  are  led, 
when  they  have  once  lost  the  anchor  of  truth,  and  their 
minds  are  set  afloat  on  the  tide  of  passions,  St.  Optatus 
pursued  them  through  the  endless  mazes  of  their  errors, 
and  laid  open  their  hypocrisy,  pretended  zeal,  and  incon- 
sistency, in  separating  themselves  from  the  Catholic 
Church,  as  if  her  sanctity  could  be  defiled  by  admitting 
penitent  Traditors  to  her  communion,  whilst  tliey  passed 
over  such  proceedings  among  themselves.  He  showed 
them,  that  they  were  but  a  small  number  of  rebels,  coop- 
ed up  in  one  little  corner  of  a  single  country,  that  they 
were  branches  lopped  otf  from  the  vine,  and  separated 
from  the  stock,  and  consequently  that  they  had  no  right 
whatsoever  to  unchurch  an  infinite  number  of  Christians 
in  the  East  and  in  the  West,  and  spread  all  over  the 
world.     It   is  evident   from   the    writings   of    this   holy 


ilG6  HISTORY  OF  THE 

r 

Doctor,  that  the  Blessed  Eucharist  was  then  kept  in  th© 

churches  after  the  sacrifice  no  less  than  at  present,  and 
that  the  Donatists  used  and  reverenced  the  holy  oblation 
or  mass,  and  all  the  sacraments,  though  they  pretended 
those  administered  out  of  their  own  sect,  were  void  and 
null,  and  only  holy  among  themselves,  -for  like  unto  the 
Pharisees  and  Novatians,  blinded  by  their  passions,  they 
boasted  of  their  great  purity,  and  sanctity,  and  did  not  see 
the  inward  uncleanness  of  their  own  hearts,  defiled  by 
pride  and  disobedience.  St.  Optatus  reproached  them  with 
pulling  down  the  altars,  where  Jesus  Christ  rests  at  cer- 
tain times,  and  with  breaking  the  chalices,  which  carried 
the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  Nothing  in  fine  can  be  more 
clear,  than  the  terms  in  which  he  frequently  expresses  him- 
self about  the  real  presence  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  and  about  the  adoration  that  is 
due  to  this  sacrament. 

St.  Eustathias,  first  Bishop  of  Beraea  in  Syria,  and 
afterwards  translated  to  the  Patriarchal  see  of  Antioch, 
confessed  the  faith  of  Christ  before  the  Pagan  persecu- 
tors with  heroic  constancy.  St.  Jerom  calls  him  a  sound- 
ing trumpet,  and  says,  he  was  consummate  in  sacred  and 
profane  learning,  and  the  first  who  employed  his  pen 
against  the  Arians.  His  elegant  works  against  them  have 
not  reached  us,  but  his  treatise  on  the  Pijlhonissaj  or 
Witch  of  Endor,  is  still  extant,  where  he  undertakes  to 
prove  against  Origen,  that  this  witch  neither  did,  nor  could 
call  up  the  soul  of  Samuel,  but  only  a  spectre,  or  devil 
representing  Samuel  in  order  to  deceive  Saul.  Nothing 
more  enhances  the  virtue  of  this  holy  prelate,  than  the 
invincible  constancy  and  patience  with  which  he  suffered 
the  most  reproachful  accusation,  with  which  his  enemies 
falsely  charged  him,  and  the  unjust  deposition  and  ba- 
nishment which  were  inflicted  on  him. 

St.  Philogonius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  was  renowned  for 
his  eloquence,  and  still  more  for  the  purity  of  his  man- 
ners and  the  sanctity  of  his  life  in  the  fourth  century. 
He  strenuously  defended  the  Catholic  faith  before  the 
Assembly  of  the  council  of  Nice. 

St.  Nilus,  anchoret  and  father  of  the  Church,  lived 
also  in  this  age.  His  works  were  in  great  request  among 
the  ancients.  They  demonstrate  the  excellent  perfection 
of  his  viitue  and  his  great  talent  of  eloquence.     His  let- 


^ 


ciimCH  OF  CHRIST-  167 

tcrs  have  been  printed  in  four  books,  folio.  They  are 
short,  but  elegant,  and  written  with  spirit  and  vebemen- 
cy,  especially  when  any  vice  is  the  theme. 

In  this  century   the  Church  extended  her  boundaries 
very  considerably,  by   the  wonderful    conversions    that 
were  wrought  by  the  miracles  and  preaching  of  the  holy 
Bishop  Frumentius,  apostle  of  -5tlthiopia,  and  of  the  em- 
pire of  the  Axumites.     Thousands   also  of  holy  monks, 
anchorets,  hermits,  and  ascetics,  peopled  the  deserts  in 
this  century,  and  were  formed  into  regular  monastaries. 
The  Prophet  Elias,  and  St.  John  the  Baptist,  sanctified 
the  deserts  in  the  old  law,  and  Jesus  Christ  himself  was  a 
model  of  the  heremitical   hfe,  during  his  forty  days  fast 
in  the  Wilderness.     St.  Paul,  called  the  first  hermit,  spent 
ninety  years  in  the  desert,  where  being  fed,  like  Elias,  by 
a  raven,  he  died  in  the  year  342,  in  the  1 13th  year  of  his 
age.     St.  Anthony,  a  young  gentleman  of  Egypt,  is  gene- 
rally looked  upon  as  the  patriarch  of  monks,  and  the  au- 
thor of  the  monastic  life  in  the  Eastern  parts  of  the 
Church.     He  was  born  in  the  year  251.     Hearing  on  a 
certain  day  in  the  church  these  words  of  the  gospel;  If 
you  are  willing  to  he  perfect^  go,  sell  all  you  have,  give    to 
the  poor^  and  you  shall  have  a  treasure  in  Heaven,  he  applied 
them  to  himself,  and  returning  home  sold  his  goods,  and 
distributed  them  to  ttie  poor.     Actuated  then  with  an  ar- 
dent desirfe  of  greater   perfection,  he  retired  from  the 
dangers  and  corruptions  of  the  world  into  a  solitude,  there 
to  ^tend  solely  tb  his  eternal  salvation,  and  to  devote  the 
remainder  of  his  days  to  the  spiritual  exercises  of  penance 
and  mortification.     His  holy  life  and  edifying  example  soon 
attracted  an  amazing  number  of  disciples  from  the  neigh- 
bouring countries,  and  they  made  such  a  progress  in  the 
way  of  perfection  by  the  many  excellent  lessons  of  piety 
which  he  prescribed,  that  they  became  the   admiration 
of  the  world.     Their  habitations  were  so  many  temples, 
where  they  watched,  fasted,  and  chaunted  psalms  in  praise 
of  the  Lord.     To  avoid  idleness  and  procure  themselves 
a  corporal  subsistence,  they  laboured  with  their  hands, 
and  employed  the  time  that  was  not  devoted  to  prayer, 
in  tilling  the  earth,  in  making  mats,  baskets,  sack-cloth, 
or  other  mean  things,  proper  to  inspire  and  entertain  hu- 
mility.    The  profit  of  their  manual  labour,  above  the 
little  pittance,  which  was  necessary  for  their  support, 


168  HISTORY   OF  THE 

enabled  them  to  bestow  considerable  amis  on  the  poor. 
Nor  did  this  labour  interrupt  the  prayer  of  the  heart,  for 
they  always  prayed  or  meditated  at  their  work,  which  they 
.were  taught  to  perform  in  the  spirit  of  penance,  and  to 
offer  up  to  God,  in  union  with  the  laborious  life  and  suf- 
ferings of  Jesus  Christ.  Their  food,  as  St.  John  Chrysos- 
tom  tells  us,  was  bread  steeped  in  water,  with  a  little  salt, 
oil,  herbs,  pulse,  and  sometimes  a  few  dates.  They  wore^ 
no  shoes,  and  had  no  other  bed  than  a  mat  spread  on  the 
bare  ground.  Their  garments  were  made  of  the  skins  of 
goats,  or  of  camel's  hair,  that  is,  coarse  camlet,  any  thing 
that  was  soft  being  looked  upon  as  unsuitable  to  their 
penitential  state  of  life.  .  The  regimen  they  followed 
btrengthened  their  constitution,  prevented  disorders,  and 
prolonged  their  life  to  a  considerable  old  age.  St.  An- 
thony their  founder  lived  to  upwards  of  a  hundred  years. 
The  same  course  of  life  was  embraced  by  S.  Pachomius, 
who  was  the  ifirst  that  drew  up  a  monastic  rule  in  writing, 
in  the  year  348.  The  writers  of  his  life  assert,  that  he 
had  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  offered  for  the  soul  of  every 
one  of  his  monks  that  died.  He  departed  this  hfe  in  a 
Tery  advanced  age,  and  left  several  thousands  of  disciples 
in  deep  affliction  for  the  loss  of  their  spiritual  father  and 
director.  St.  Macarius  the  elder  lived  sixty  years  in  the 
vast  desert  of  Scete,  eighty  miles  beyond  Nitria,  and  a 
hundred  and  twenty  from  Alexandria.  Innumerable  reli- 
gious persons  flocked  to  him  from  all  sides,  and  put  them- 
selves under  his  direction.  Tillemont  informs  us,  that  "St. 
Macarius  the  younger  had  five  thousand  monks  under  his 
inspection  at  Nitria,  in  the  deserts  of  Thebais,  or  Upper 
Egypt.  In  the  close  of  the  fourth  century,  Cassian 
reckoned  fifty  monasteries  on  Mount  Nitria,'  inhabited  by 
an  amazing  number  of  relisrious,  who  served  God  there  in 
the  exercises  of  fervent  penance  and  contemplation ;  as- 
sembling in  Church  on  Sundays  to  celebrate  the  divine 
mysteries,  and  to  partake  of  the  holy  communion.  They 
fasted  every  day  till  after  sunset,  except  Sundays  and  the 
paschal  time,  and  lived  for  the  most  part  on  bread  and 
water.  They  rose  at  midnight,  and  met  twice  in  the  day 
to  pray  together  in  common.  They  frequently  prayed 
with  their  arms  stretched  out  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  They 
fciept  little,  and  observed  great  silence.  They  built  little 
cells  for  their  lodgings,  which  resembled  sepulchres  rather 


ClICllCU    OF    CHRIST.  169 

than  dwelling  places.  St.  Palajmon,  St.  Pambo,  St.  John 
of  Egypt,  who  died  in  the  year  394,  and  in  the  90th  year 
of  his  age  ;  St.  Arsenius,  who  after  spending  55  years  in 
the  desert,  died  in  the  95th  year  of  his  age,  and  several 
other  holy  anchorets  followed  this  course  of  life,  and  de- 
voted themselves  entirely  to  the  spiritual  exercises  of 
penance  and  heavenly  contemplation.  The  same  course 
of  life  was  also  embraced  by  St.  Macedonius,  St.  Hilarion, 
and  St.  Basil,  and  quickly  propagated  through  Palestine, 
Syria,  Mesopotamia,  and  through,  the  deserts  of  Pontus 
and  Cappadocia,  under  several  wise  regulations,  highly 
conducive  to  Christian  perfection.  The  austerities  of  all 
these  inhabitants  of  the  desert  were  not  only  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  faithful,  but  also  the  admiration  even  of  infidels, 
who  were  amazed  to  see  that  such  multitudes  of  Christians 
had  attained  to  so  wonderful  a  victory  over  their  passions, 
so  sublime  a  degree  of  virtue,  and  so  heavenly  a  temper, 
as  to  have  seemed  rather  angels  than  men,  "  For  my  part," 
said  St.  Sulpicius  Severus,  Dial.  1.  c.  26,  ^'  so  long  as  I 
''  shall  enjoy  life  and  retain  my  senses,  I  shall  ever  cele- 
'•^  brate  the  monks  of  Egypt,  praise  the  anchorets,  and 
'^  admire  the  hermits."  "  There  have  I  seen,"  says  He- 
raclides,  "  many  fathers  leading  an  angelic  life,  and  walk- 
'^  ing  after  the  example  of  Jesus."  Their  long  lives  are 
chieBy  ascribed  to  their  regularity,  moderate  labour,  and 
great  abstemiousness,  so  that  their  example,  as  well  as 
the  experience  of  all  ages,  confirms  the  old  proverb  ;  that 
to  eat  long  J  a  person  ought  to  eat  little. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Kmperor  Julian  apostatizes  and  allempts  to  re-estahlish 

Paganism,  S^'c. 

IN  vain  had  the  Arians,  supported  by  the  power  of 
Constantius,  exerted  their  cruelty  against  the  orthodox, 
and  endeavoured  to  subvert  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
Christ.  The  faith  increased  under  axes,  and  the  blood 
of  martyrs  multiplied  the  number  of  its  professors.  The 
Arian  heresy,  and  the  Donatist  schism,  seemed  indeed  at 
first  to  threaten  the  utter  ruin  of  the  Church,  had  she  not 
P 


no  HISTORY    OF    THE 

been  secured  by  tlie  promises  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  as  she 
stood  the  shock  against  the  united  force  both  of  the  Jews 
and  Gentiles,  so  she  remained  immoveable  and  incorrupti- 
ble against  the  deceitful  reasonings,  outrageous  impieties, 
and  sacrilegious  violences  of  the  Arians  and  Donatists  and 
their  abettors.  The  edifice  of  the  Church  could  not  be 
thrown  down  by  these  storms,  because  he  that  built  it  was 
himself  the  corner  stone,  and  had  declared  it  should  stand 
for  ever.  The  Emperor  Julian,  who  succeeded  Constan- 
tius  in  the  year  361,  learning  by  experience  how  weak 
and  ineflectual  a  means  force  and  violence  was,  resolved 
to  change  his  artillery  and  manner  of  assault,  and  not  to 
employ  open  persecution,  like  his  predecessor,  but  di.s- 
simulation  and  seduction,  in  which  he  was  the  most  com- 
plete master.  At  first  he  affected  a  show  of  great  mode- 
ration, but  was  a  more  dangerous  persecutor  than  Nero  or 
Decius,  and  the  most  implacable  and  most  crafty  instru- 
ment which  the  Devil  ever  employed,  for  the  purpose  of 
undermining  the  faith,  and  sapping  the  foundations  of  the 
Christian  religion.  Through  the  influence  of  some  Pagan 
philosophers  with  whom  he  had  studied  at  Athens,  he  re- 
nounced Christianity,  openly  professed  Paganism,  and  re- 
solved to  re-establish  the  worship  of  idols.  Hence  he  was 
surnamed  the  Apostaie.  He  pretended  to  efface  the  cha- 
racter of  his  baptism,  by  besmearing  himself  Avith  the 
blood  of  impious  victims.  He  commanded  the  cross,  and 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  Constantine  the  Great  had 
placed  in  the  Labaruniy  or  chief  standard  of  the  army,  to 
be  struck  out,  and  had  the  standards  reduced  to  the  an- 
cient form,  used  under  the  Pagan  emperors,  on  which  the 
images  of  false  gods  were  represented.  He  recalled  indeed 
the  exiled  bishops,  and  allowed  every  one  the  free  exer- 
<:ise  of  religion,  but  he  adopted  other  crafty  measures, 
which  appeared  to  him  more  efiectual,  to  harass  and  op- 
press the  Christians  ;  for  he  fomented  divisions  between 
the  Catholics  and  the  Arians,  in  order  to  weaken  the  one 
by  the  other,  and  at  length  to  give  them  both  a  deadly 
blow.  He  was  as  prodigal  in  granting  favours  to  the  Pa- 
gans, whilst  the  Christians  experienced  nothing  on  his 
part  but  contempt,  vexations,  and  disgraces.  He  exacted 
considerable  sums  of  money  from  them,  for  the  purpose 
of  repairing  the  Pagan  temples,  to  which  he  caused  the 
sacred  Vessels  and  ornaments  of  the  churches  to  be  ve- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  171 

moved.  He  revoked  the  privileges  of  the  ecclesiastics, 
and  suppressed  the  pensions  which  Constantine  had  as- 
signed for  the  maintenance  of  the  clergy,  and  of  the  sa- 
cred virgins  and  widows,  devoted  to  the  service  of  God. 
He  levied  heavy  fines,  and  seized  the  estates  of  Christians, 
saying  in  raillery,  that  he  did  it  to  oblige  them  to  follow 
the  Gospel,  which  recommended  poverty.  Whenever 
they  complained  of  this  injurious  treatment,  he  answered 
in  the  words  of  Christ :  Blessed  are  the  pooVy  and  observed 
through  derision,  that  evangelical  poverty  would  facilitate 
their  admission  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  He  ordered 
that  they  should  be  no  longer  called  Chnstians  but  Gall" 
leans,  and  disqualified  them  from  bearing  any  offices  in 
the  state,  or  exercising;  the  functions  of  magistrates,  under 
tlie  pretext,  that  the  Gospel  forbid  them  the  use  of  the 
sword.  He  excluded  them  from  the  rights  of  citizens, 
and  would  not  allow  them  to  defend  themselves  in  the 
courts  of  justice,  because,  said  he,  your  religion  forbids 
you  to  engage  in  litigations  and  complaints.  He  thought  it 
impossible  for  him  to  succeed  in  his  endeavours  to  under- 
mine the  Christian  Religion,  so  long  as  its  Pastors  and 
defenders  were  the  most  learned  men  of  the  empire,  such 
as  St.  Athanasius,  St.  Basil,  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  St. 
Hilary,  Apollinaris,  Diodorus  of  Tarsus,  Sec.  For  this 
reason  he  forbade  the  Christians  to  teach  either  grammar, 
rhetoric,  or  philosophy,  and  deprived  them  of  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  learned  education,  saying,  that  Christians 
should  be  ignorant  of  human  literature^  and  believe  without 
reasoning.  This  kind  of  persecution  by  stratagems,  ar- 
tifices, and  caresses,  might  perhaps  have  been  detriment- 
al, and  destroyed  more  souls  than  the  cruelties  of  Dio- 
clesian,  if  God,  who  always  protects  his  Church,  had  not 
defeated  the  infernal  project,  by  shortening  the  reign  of 
its  impious  author. 

Whilst  Julian  was  endeavouring  by  these  crafty  means 
to  destroy  the  Christian  Church,  he  furnished  a  new  proof 
of  the  divinity  of  its  heavenly  founder,  and  of  the  truth  of 
his  sacred  oracles.  He  was  sensible  that  the  prophecies 
announced  the  ruin  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  as  irre- 
parable, and  that  Jesus  Christ  had  foretold,  that  one  stone 
of  it  should  not  be  left  upon  another.  Wherefore,  in  order 
to  falsify  the  Scriptures,  and  discredit  the  Christian  reli- 
gion by  bringing  the  scandal  oi  imposture  upon  its  divine 


IT2  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Author,  he  undertook  to  rebuild  the  Temple,  about  the 
beginning  of  the  year  362,  and,  though  he  did  not  love 
the  Jews,  he  invited  them  to  concur  in  this  enterprise. 
Sozomen  tells  us,  that  he  wrote  a  letter  to  their  chiefs, 
wherein  he  gave  them  every  encouragement  to  repair 
hnmediately  to  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  re-establish  their 
ancient  worship,  which  was  then  abohshed,  as  the  Tem- 
ple, wherein  their  bloody  sacrifices  could  only  be  offered, 
Jay  in  ruins,  and  of  course,  the  whole  system  of  their  re- 
ligion was  annihilated.  He  even  promised  to  give  orders 
to  his  treasurers  to  furnish  money,  and  every  thing  neces- 
sary, and  he  sent  Alipius,  one  of  his  confidential  officers, 
to  the  very  spot,  to  enforce  the  execution  of  his  orders. 
The  news  was  no  sooner  spread  abroad,  than  the  Jews, 
elated  with  joy,  and  triumphing  over  the  Christians, 
flocked  from  all  parts  to  Jerusalem,  and  contributed  large 
sums  of  money  towards  carrying  on  the  building.  The 
.Jewish  women  stript  themselves  even  of  their  most  costly 
ornaments,  to  contribute  towards  the  expense.  Immense 
quantities  of  stone,  brick,  timber,  and  other  materials 
were  prepared.  Thousands  of  workmen  were  speedily 
assembled  from  all  quarters,  and  lodged  in  porticos  and 
other  adjoining  buildings,  under  a  number  of  overseers, 
who  were  charged  to  make  them  labour  without  loss  of 
time,  and  complete  the  undertaking  as  soon  as  possible. 
It  is  related  by  historians,  that  some  of  the  pickaxes, 
spades,  and  baskets  were  made  of  silver,  for  the  honour 
of  the  work.  When  all  things  were  in  readiness  the 
workmen  began  to  clear  the  ground,  to  dig  up  the  earth, 
and  to  remove  the  ancient  foundations.  The  Jews  of 
both  sexes,  and  of  all  degrees,  both  young  and  old, 
men,  women,  and  children,  bore  a  share  in  the  labour. 
The  Jewish  women  helped  to  dig  the  ground  with  alacrity, 
and  carried  away  the  rubbish  in  their  aprons,  and  in  the 
skirts  of  their  gowns.  St.  Cyril,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
seeing  all  these  mighty  preparations  without  any  concern, 
as  Rufinus  assures  us.  Hist.  1.  10.  c.  37.  he  foretold  with 
the  greatest  confidence,  that  the  Jews  far  from  being  able 
to  rebuild  their  ruined  Temple,  would  be  the  very  instru- 
ments whereby  the  prophecy  of  Christ  would  be  more 
fully  accomplished.  The  event  justified  the  Saint's  pre- 
diction, for  until  then  the  antient  foundations,  and  some 
ruins  of  the  walls  of  the  temple  subsisted,  and  the  Jews, 


J 


f  CHURCH    Of    CHRIST.  173 

by  dehiolishmg  these  ruins  with  their  own  hands,  concurred 
to  the  accomplishment  of  what  our  Saviour  had  foretold, 
ifiat  one  stone  should  not  be  left  on  another.  When  they  be- 
gan to  dig  the  new  foundation,  the  finger  of  the  Almighty 
visibly  defeated  the  rash  undertaking,  for  what  the  workmen 
had  thrown  up  was,  by  repeated  earthquakes,  cast  back 
into  the  trencfies,  and  prodigious  heaps  of  the  lime,  sand, 
and  other  loose  materials,  were  carried  away  by  dreadful 
storms  and  whirlwinds.  And  when  Alipius  and  the  pro- 
jectors earnestly  pressed  on  the  work,  horrible  balls  and 
flames  of  fire  bursting  out  of  the  earth  near  the  founda- 
tion, repelled  the  stones,  melted  down  the  iron  instruments, 
burned  or  scorched  the  workmen,  drove,^iem  to  a  dis- 
tance, and  obliged  them  to  give  over  the  -Enterprise,  not 
once  only,  but  as  often  as  they  ventured  to  renew  their 
attempt.  At  the  same  time,  the  statue  which  Julian  had 
caused  to  be  erected  to  himself,  in  place  of  the  statue  which 
had  been  erected,  in  honour  of  Christ,  by  the  woman 
whom  he  had  miraculously  cured  of  the  hemorrhoid,  was 
cast  down  by  fire  from  Heaven,  and  a  flaming  cross  ap- 
peared in  the  sky  over  Jerusalem,  surrounded  with  a  lu- 
minous circle,  as  if  it  were  to  celebrate  the  triumph  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  confound  the  vanity  of  the  impotent 
Julian.  These  phaenomena,  which  are  attested  by  a  num- 
ber of  Christian  and  Pagan  writers,  astonished  all  the 
spectators,  and  induced  many  Jews,  and  still  more  Hea- 
thens, to  confess  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  cry  out  for 
baptism.  But  the  unhappy  Julian  continued  still  blind 
and  hardened  in  the  midst  of  such  a  flash  of  conviction, 
and  undertook  an  expedition  into  Persia,  with  an  army  of 
sixty-five  thousand  men.  When  he  was  on  his  march, 
he  ordered  Juventius  and  Maximinus,  two  officers  in  his 
foot  guards,  to  be  scourged  and  beheaded,  because  they 
refused  to  sacrifice  to  his  idols.  He  was  deceived  almost 
in  every  step  by  ridiculous  omens,  oracles,  and  augurs. 
All  the  Pagan  deities  wherever  he  passed  promised  him 
victories.  The  oracles  of  Delos,  Delphos,  and  Dodona, 
gave  him  the  like  assurances.  When  he  arrived  at 
Antioch,  he  was  informed  that  the  famous  idol  of  Apollo, 
which  was  then  worshipped  in  a  temple  at  Daphne,  five 
miles  from  Antioch,  had  been  struck  dumb  by  the  neigh- 
l)ourhood  of  the  relics  of  St.  Babylas,  Martyr  and  Bishop 
of  Antioch,  which  were  deposited  in  a  small  church  aew  ' 
P  2 


174  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  profane  temple.  Julian  commanded  that  tlie  Chris- 
tians should  immediately  remove  the  shrine  of  the  Saint 
from  Daphne  to  some  distant  place.  The  Christians 
obeyed  the  order,  and  with  great  solemnity  carried  the  sa- 
cred relics  to  Antioch  in  procession,  singing  on  this  occasion 
the  psalms  which  ridicule  the  vanity  and  feebleness  of 
idols,  repeating  after  every  verse,  *'May  they  who  adore 
*'  idols,  and  glory  in  false  gods,  blush  with  shame,  and 
*^  be  covered  with  confusion."  The  following  evening, 
fire  and  hghtning  fell  from  the  heavens  on  the  temple  of 
Apollo,  and  reduced  to  ashes  all  the  rich  and  magnificent 
ornaments  with  which  it  was  embellished,  and  the  idol 
itself,  leaving  only  the  walls  standing.  Julian  was  much 
enraged  hereat.  However,  he  durst  not  restore  the  idol, 
lest  the  hke  thunder  should  fall  on  his  ow^n  head  ;  but  he 
breathed  fury  and  vengeance  against  the  Christians,  es» 
pecially  of  Antioch,  and  intended  that  they  should  feel 
the  fatal  effects  of  his  wrath,  at  his  return  from  the  Per- 
sian war,  if  God  had  not  defeated  his  vain  projects  by 
his  unhappy  death  in  that  expedition.  He  was  made  a 
subject  of  mockery  and  ridicule  at  Antioch,  on  account 
of  his  low  stature,  gigantic  gait,  great  goat's  beard,  and 
bloody  sacrifices,  in  answer  to  w  hich,  he  wrote  a  low  and 
insipid  satire,  called  the  Misopogon,  or  Beard-hater. 
Theodoret  and  Sozomen  relate,  that  having  rashly  ven- 
tured into  the  w'ilds  and  deserts  of  Persia,  he  and  his 
army  were  defeated  in  June,  363.  Finding  himself  mor- 
tally wounded  in  the  battle,  with  an  arrow  from  an 
unknown  hand,  he  was  carried  into  his  tent,  where  he 
miserably  perished,  throwing  up  a  handful  of  blood  to-- 
wards  Heaven,  and  crying  out,  Vicisti  Galiloiej  Thou 
hast  conquered,  O  Galilean,  thou  hast  conquered.  Thus 
perished  the  Apostate  Juhan,  so  much  boasted  and  ex- 
tolled by  the  false  sages  of  our  age.  The  Divine  ven- 
geance also  overtook  his  uncle,  Count  Julian,  governor 
of  the  East,  who  having  in  like  manner  become  an  apos- 
tate from  the  faith,  persecuted  the  Christians,  seized  the 
sacred  vessels  of  the  Church,  and  after  ordering  the 
holy  priest  Theodoret,  and  SS.  Bonosus  and  Maximihan, 
two  officers  of  \iistinguished  virtue,  to  be  cruelly  tor- 
tured, caused  them  to  be  beheaded.  Shortly  after  he  was 
seized  with  a  terrible  disease  in  his  bowels,  by  which  the 
adjacent  parts  of  his  body  were  putrefied,  and  bred  such 


CHURCH    or    CHRIST.  175 

a  quantity  of  worms,  that  all  the  art  of  physicians  could 
not  destroy  tiiem,  nor  give  him  any  relief.  They  crawled 
still  deeper,  and  penetrated  into  the  live  flesh,  and  came 
out  with  his  excrements  by  his  mouth,  which  had  uttered 
so  many  blasphemies.  Philostorgius  says,  he  remained 
forty  days  without  speech  or  sense.  He  then  came  to 
himself,  and  in  his  last  extremity  acknowledged  his  im- 
piety, like  Antiochus,  before  he  expired 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Of  the  persecutions  raised  by  ValenSj  the  Vandals  and  Per' 
sians,  and  of  the  second  General  Council^  under  Tlieodo' 
sius  the  Great. 

THE  orthodoxy  of  the  Emperor  Jovian,  who  succeed- 
ed Julian  the  Apostate,  put  a  stop  to  the  persecution  of 
the  Catholics,  till  the  reign  of  Valens,  who  was  raised  to 
the  Imperial  Throne  in  the  East,  whilst  his  brother,  Va- 
lentinian,  a  true  Catholic,  governed  in  the  West.  Va- 
lens was  the  last  of  the  Roman  Emperors  who  protected 
Arianism.  Seduced  by  the  persuasions  of  his  wife,  he 
promised,  upon  oath,  that  he  would  promote  the  cause  of 
that  sect.  He  openly  declared  in  favour  of  it  in  the  year 
367,  and  violently  persecuted  the  orthodox  bishops,  and 
the  monks  in  the  deserts,  who  were  known  to  distinguish 
themselves  in  supporting  the  true  rehgion.  He  caused 
the  streets  of  Antioch  to  swim  with  innocent  blood,  and 
many  houses  to  be  consumed  with  flames.  He  ordered 
fourscore  ecclesiastics  at  Nicomedia  to  be  put  together 
on  board  a  ship,  and  the  ship,  when  out  at  sea,  to  be  set 
on  fire,  that  they  might  all  perish.  The  Lombards, 
also — and  Ostrogoths,  or  Eastern  Goths,  who  settled  in 
Italy — and  the  Visigoths,  or  Western  Goths-,  who  pro- 
ceeded from  the  Southern  parts  of  France  into  Spain — 
and  the  Vandals,  who  passed  from  Spain  into  Africa,  with 

enseric  their  King,  were  infected  with  Arianism,  and 
persecuted  the  orthodox  with  great  fury.  Hunneric,  the 
son  and  successor  of  G enseric,  shut  up  all  the  Catholic 
Churches  in  his  dominions,  demolished  the  monasteries, 
and  banished  the  bishops  and  clergy,  to  the  number  of 
near  five  thousand,  but  the  justice  of  God  overtook  him 


V 


176  HISTORY    OF   THE 

at  length,  and  he  died  eaten  up  with  worms.  Gonda- 
mund  and  Trasamund,  his  successors,  raised  two  cruel 
persecutions,  but  an  end  was  put  to  their  kingdom  and 
power,  by  Belisarius,  the  general  of  Justinian's  army. 

After  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Valens,  who,  in  the 
year  378,  was  burnt  alive,  in  a  cottage  near  Adrianople, 
by  the  Goths,  whom  he  had    perverted,    Arianism  lost 
ground  by  degrees  in  the  Eastern  provinces,  which  were 
chiefly  tainted  with  it,  for  the  Arians  began  to  differ  among 
themselves,  and  split  into  as  many   different  sects   and 
branches  as  it  had  heads.     Their  case,  says  St.  Hilary, 
was  the  same  with  that  of  imskilful  architects,  who  are 
never  pleased  with  their  own  work,  and  who  do  nothing  but 
build  up  and  pull  down.     They  constantly  changed  their 
Greeds,  and  thus  they  weakened  their  party,  and  fell  into 
a  confusion,  which  occasioned  numbers  of  them  to  for- 
sake their  errors  and  embrace  the  Catholic  faith.     The 
Goths  and  Vandals  were  converted  in  process  of  time  ; 
and  thus  the  formidable  heresy  of  the  Arians  withdrcAV 
itself  by  degrees  from  the  East  and  West,  passed   away 
like  a  thunderbolt,  and  sunk  quite  into  nothing,  so  that  not 
a  single  shoot  of  Arianism  was  left  in  the  whole  world,  after 
the  entire  conversion  of  the  Lombards,  till  it  was  unhap- 
pily revived  by  some  unbelievers  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
Such  is  the  nature  of  every  heresy  :  after  spreading  for 
a  while,  it  dwindles   away  sooner   or  later  ;  which  made 
St.  Jude  compare  heresies  to   wandering  meteors,  which 
.seem  to   blaze  for  a  time,  but  set  in  eternal  darkness. 
Heresies  must  be,  says  St.  Paul,  1   Cor.    11,  19.  that  they 
who  are  approved  may  be  made  manifest.     They  serve  as  a 
touchstone  to  distinguish  the  sound  part  of  Christians  from 
the  unsound.     This  was  the   case  with  the  Arian  heresy. 
It  was  an  useful  instrument  to  separate  the  chaff  from  the 
corn,  and   to  purge    away    all    dross  from  the  Church. 
Another  storm  was  raised  against  the  Church  in  this  cen- 
tury ;  for  about  the  year  340,  Sapor  II.  commenced  a 
most  violent  persecution  in  the  great  empire   of  Persia, 
which  was  then  full  of  Christians.     This  persecution  con- 
tinued, without  intermission,  for  the  space  of  forty  years. 
It  was  recommended  in  the  year  380,  by  King  Isdegerdes, 
and  continued  under  his  successors  for  thirty  years  more, 
until  Chrosroes  II.  was  defeated  by  Heraclius,  Emperor 
of  Constantinople.     Some  historians  make  the  number  of 


I 


CHURCH   OP    CHRIST.  177 

Christians  who  were  crowned  with  martyrdom  in  these 
persecutions,  amount  to  two  hundred  thousand,  exclusive 
of  ninety  thousand  who  were  sold  for  slaves,  and  partly 
massacred  by  the  Jews.  SeeSozomen,  1.  2.  c.  15;  Casi- 
odorus,  1.  3.  Nicep.  1.  8.  c.  27. 

When  Gratian,  the  eldest  son  of  Valentinian  I.  became 
master  of  the  East,  after  the  death  of  his  uncle  Valens, 
he  restored  peace  to  the  Church,  and  declared  Theodosius, 
an  experienced  general,  his  partner  and  colleague  in  the 
empire.  Gratian  having  been  afterward  treacherously 
stabbed  by  Andragathius,  general  of  the  usurper  Maximus' 
house,  and  Valentinian  II.  Gratian's  half  brother,  having 
fled  from  Milan,  with  his  mother  Justina,  into  the  East, 
to  implore  the  assistance  of  the  Emperor  Theodosius 
against  Maximus,  this  great  prince  and  model  of  Christian 
emperors,  who,  until  then,  had  been  employed  in  settling 
the  peace  of  the  Church  and  state  in  the  East,  came  from 
Constantinople  to  Thessalonica,  to  comfort,  in  the  most 
tender  and  paternal  manner,  the  distressed  remains  of  the 
family  of  Valentinian.  Having  shortly  after  declared  war 
against  Maximus  the  tyrant,  he  gave  orders  for  solemn 
prayers  to  be  every  where  put  up  to  God  to  draw  down  a 
blessing  on  his  army,  and  sent  to  entreat  the  most  eminent 
solitaries  in  Egypt  to  lift  up  their  hands  to  Heaven,  whilst 
he  fought,  as  St.  Augustine  informs  us,  1.  5.  de  Civ.  He 
then  marched  with  his  troops  towards  the  banks  of  the 
Save,  encountered  and  defeated  Maximus,  entered  the  city 
of  Rome  with  great  magnificence,  in  a  triumphal  chariot 
drawn  by  elephants,  and  put  young  Valentinian  in  posses- 
sion of  the  whole  Western  Empire.  During  his  residence 
at  Rome,  he  gained  the  hearts  of  the  people,  by  his  sin- 
gular clemency  and  generosity,  goodness  and  humanity. 
He  abolished  the  remains  of  idolatry,  prohibited  Pagan 
festivals  and  sacrifices,  and  caused  the  temples  to  be 
stripped  of  their  ornaments,  and  the  idols  to  be  broken  in 
pieces.  But  he  preserved  those  statues  which  had  been 
made  by  excellent  artists,  ordering  them  to  be  set  up  in 
galleries,  or  other  public  places,  as  an  ornament  to  the 
city.  He  hkewise  ordered  the  Pagan  temples  and  idols 
of  Egypt  to  be  demolished,  particularly  the  famous  temples 
of  Bacchus  and  Serapis  in  Alexandria,  with  the  enormous 
idol  that  was  worshipped  there. 

The  first  years  of  this  pious  emperor's  reign  were  dis- 


il'S  HISTORY    OP   THE 

tinguished  by  his  zealous  efforts  to  stop  the  progress  of  j 
a  new  blasphemous  heresy,  that  sprung  from  the  bosom 
of  Arianism,  and  attacked  the  divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
It  was  broached  by  Macedonius,  a  Senii-arian  Bishop,  who 
had  usurped  the  see  of  Constantinople.  To  prevent  the 
scandal  from  spreading,  a  Council  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  bishops  was  assembled  in  that  city,  and  was  opened 
with  great  solemnity  in  the  year  381.  The  decrees  and 
symbol  of  the  council  of  Nice  were  there  renewed  and 
ratified,  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  was  cleared  up  and 
explained,  the  heresy  of  Macedonius  was  refuted  and 
condemned,  and  though  the  Council  was  not  general  in 
the  celebration,  as  it  consisted  only  of  the  Eastern  Bishops, 
yet  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  an  (Ecumenical,  or  General 
Council,  by  the  acceptation  of  the  Universal  Church,  as 
it  was  afterwards  received  and  approved  by  the  Pope,  and 
the  Bishops  of  the  West.  St.  Meletius,  the  venerable 
Bishop  of  Antioch,  who  presided  at  this  Council,  dying  at 
Constantinople,  was  succeeded  by  St.  Flavian,  a  perfect 
model  of  meekness  and  candour.  It  was  this  holy  prelate 
that  reconciled  the  Emperor  Theodosius,  by  a  pathetic 
discourse,  to  the  people  of  Antioch,  after  the  great  sedi- 
tion which  happened  in  that  city,  in  the  year  387,  on  oc- 
casion of  a  new  tax  that  was  levied  there.  But  Theodo- 
sius unhappily  forgot  the  clemency  and  moderation  which 
he  had  shown  on  this  occasion,  when  he  received  an  ac- 
count of  another  tumultuous  insurrection  that  happened 
in  Thessalonica,  where  the  populace  stoned  Botheric,  the 
governor  of  that  city,  to  death.  When  the  Emperor  was 
apprised  hereof,  instead  of  checking  the  impetuosity  of 
his  hasty  disposition,  he  suffered  himself  immediately  to 
be  carried  away  by  the  first  transports  of  his  passion,  and 
issued  a  commission,  or  warrant,  for  the  soldiery  to  be  let 
loose  for  three  hours  on  the  inhabitants  of  Thessalonica, 
till  about  seven  thousand  of  them  were  massacred,  with- 
out distinguishing  the  innocent  from  the  guilty.  The  hor- 
ror with  which  the  news  of  this  tragical  scene  filled  the 
breast  of  St.  Ambrose,  is  not  to  be  expressed.  After 
giving  the  Emperor  a  httle  time  to  reflect,  and  6nter  into 
himself,  he  wrote  him  a  letter,  wherein  he  declared,  that 
he  neither  could  nor  would  receive  his  offering  at  Mass, 
nor  celebrate  the  divine  mysteries  before  him,  till  he  ex- 
piated, by  an  exemplary  penance,  the  enormity  of  the^ 


XIIURCH    OF    CHRIST.  1T9 

maisacre  lately  committed.  The  emperor,  notwithstand- 
ing, resolved  to  go  to  the  Church  of  Milan,  according  to 
custom.  St.  Ambrose,  meeting  him  at  the  church  porch, 
forbid  him  any  further  entrance.  The  prince  alleging^ 
by  way  of  extenuating  his  guilt,  that  King  David  had  also 
sinned,  the  holy  Bishop  replied,  "  Him  whom  you  have 
"  followed  in  sinning,  follow  also  in  his  repentance." 
Theodosius  submitted  to  this  sentence  as  if  pronounced 
by  God  himself,  and  returned  to  his  palace,  bewailing  his 
miserable  condition,  and  saying.  The  Church  is  open  to 
beggars  and  slaves,  and  to  the  meanest  of  my  subjects, 
but  the  doors  of  it,  and  consequently  the  gates  of  Heaven 
also,  are  shut  against  me.  He  remained  shut  up  at  home 
in  his  oratory  for  the  space  of  eight  months,  clad  with 
penitential  weeds,  imploring  mercy  and  pardon,  and  shed- 
ding many  tears.  When  the  feast  of  Christmas  was  come, 
he  went  to  the  enclosure  of  the  church,  placed  himself  in 
the  rank  of  the  public  penitents,  prostrate  on  the  ground, 
and  striking  his  breast  with  grief,  and  with  tears  running 
down  his  cheeks,  begiriug  pardon  of  God  in  the  sight  of 
all  the  people,  who  were  so  touched  with  his  humility  and 
edifying  piety,  that  they  wept  and  prayed  with  him  for  a 
considerable  time.  In  short,  he  made  an  open  confession 
of  his  sins,  accepted  and  performed  the  public  pfinance 
enjoined  him  by  St.  Ambrose,  according  to  the  sacred 
canons  ;  for  the  Church,  instructed  by  the  word  and  ex- 
ample of  the  Apostles,  was  accustomed  then  to  inflict 
public  penance  upon  public  sinners,  and  these  penances 
were  determined  by  the  bishops,  according  to  the  particu- 
lar circumstances  of  the  case.  When  charity  waxed  cold, 
and  crimes  became  more  frequent,  the  Church  became 
more  rigorous  in  the  use  of  these  public  penances,  in  order 
to  put  some  restraint  on  sinners.  Certain  regulations, 
called  penUeniial  canons^  were  established,  by  which  the 
nature  and  duration  of  the  penance  to  be  enjoined  was 
determined,  according  to  the  different  kinds  of  crimes 
committed  ;  some  lasting  for  one  year,  some  for  three, 
some  for  seven,  ten,  nay,  fifteen,  twenty  years  together. 
This  discipline  of  canonical  penance  was  in  force  both  in 
the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches,  in  the  second  and 
third  century,  as  is  manifest  from  the  writings  of  Tertul- 
lian,  St.  Cyprian,  and  the  Canonical  Epistle  of  St.  Gre- 
gory Thaumaturgus,  who  lays  down  the  different  stages 


180  HISTORY    OF  THE 

of  public  penance,  and  describes  the  four  different  classe 
of  penitents,  viz.  the  TVeepers,  or  mour  ers,  who  remain- 
ed in  the  open  air,  without  the  gate  of  the  Church  ;  2ndly, 
the  Hearers,  who  were  allowed  to  remain  near  the  door, 
iand  to  hear  the  instructions  and  sermon  with  the  catechu- 
mens in  the  lower  part  of  the  church  ;  3dlj,  the  Prostra- 
terSj  or  kneelers,  who  remained  all  the  time  of  prayer 
prostrate,  or  on  their  knees  ;  4thly,  the  Cons'isients,  or 
co-standers,  who  joined  the  faithful  in  prayer  to  the  end, 
but  were  not  admitted  to  make  their  offering  at  Mass,  or 
to  communicate. — This  severe  discipline  continued  in  the 
Church,  with  mitigations  and  changes,  for  the  space  of 
twelve  hundred  years,  after  which  the  use  of  public  pe- 
nance became  less  frequent  in  many  places,  fell  into  dis- 
use, and  was  changed  into  other  works  of  piety.  In  the 
primitive  ages,  no  person,  how  great  soever,  was  exempt 
from  the  common  rules  of  doing  penance,  as  appears  from 
the  examples  of  Theodosius  at  Milan,  and  the  illustrious 
Fabiola  at  Rome.  The  Bishops,  however,  were  accus- 
tomed sometimes  to  relax  the  severity  of  this  discipline, 
by  granting  indulgences  on  certain  extraordinary  occa- 
sions, at  the  intercession  of  martyrs  and  confessors,  or  at 
the  joint  prayers  of  the  whole  Church,  or  when  the  peni- 
tent showed  an  extraordinary  fervour,  and  gave  unequivo- 
cal proofs  of  the  sincerity  of  his  compunction.  Thus  St. 
Ambrose,  at  length,  moved  by  the  great  ardour  and  most 
edifying  conduct  of  Theodosius,  granted  him  the  absolu- 
tion he  prayed  for  so  fervently,  and  admitted  him  to  en- 
ter the  Church,  assist  at  the  holy  mysteries,  and  partake 
of  the  blessed  communion.  In  the  year  395  this  great 
emperor  expired  in  the  arms  of  St.  Ambrose,  after  giving 
his  two  sons,  Honorius  and  Arcadius,  excellent  instructions 
how  to  govern  well,  one  of  them  being  made  Emperor  of 
the  West,  the  other  of  the  East. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Tlie  Church  of  iheffth  century. 

The  succession  of  chief  pastors  in  the  Chair  of  St.  Pe- 
ter was  kept  up  during  this  century  by  St.  Innocent  I.  St. 


CHURCH    OF    CHUIST.  181 

Zozimu.s,  St.  Boniface  I.  St.  Colestine  I.  St.  Sixtus  lU. 
St.  Leo  the  Great,  St.  Hilarius,  St.  Sim|>lieius,  St.  Feli\ 
III.  St.  Gelasjus  I.  St.  Anastasivis  11.  and  St.  Symmachiis. 
Innocent,  a  native  of  Albano,  near  Home,  was  unani- 
mously chosen  to  fill  the  Pontifical  Chair  in  the  year  402. 
In  the  beginning  of  his  pontificate,  the  Western  Empire 
was  afflicted  with  a  dreadful  famine  and  pestilei^ce,  occa- 
sioned by  the  irruptions  of  an  immense  army  of  Parbarians, 
that  poured  in  upon  it  on  all  sides,  lilce  a  torreiit,  which, 
having  broken  down  its  banks,  impetuously  spreads  itseil" 
over  the  Avhole  country.  Three  different  nations  that  in- 
habited the  North  side  of  the  Rhuie  and  Danu.be,  ad- 
vancing thence,  through  Pomerania,  into  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Palus  McEotis,  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  invaded 
the  provinces  of  Gaul  and  Italy.  T4tese  northern  wolves,, 
as  St.  Jerom  speaks,  laid  waste  the  whole  coiuitry  be- 
tween the  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees,  between  the  Ocean  and 
the  Rhine. — Epist.  11.  The  Goths,  a  people  originally 
from  Gothland,  in  Sweden,  bore  a  principal  share  herein. 
Aiaric,  their  King,  an  enterprising:,  ambitious  adventurer, 
animated  with  the  success  of  his  victorious  arms,  crossed 
the  Alps  and  the  river  Po,  carrying  desolation  and  slaugh- 
ter with  him  wherever  he  went.  But  he  received  a  great 
overthrow  from  the  army  of  the  Emperor  Honorius,  com- 
manded by  Stilico,  in  the  year  403,  near  Polentia,  in  Li- 
guria.  Prudentias  says,  I.  2.  Adv.  Sym.  that  the  Roman 
soldiers  began  the  battle  by  making  the  sign  of  the  cross 
on  their  foreheads.  Radagaisus,  ariother  Pagan  Prince  of 
the  Goths,  invaded  Italy  ih  the  year  405,  with  an  army, 
according  to  some  historians,  of  four  hundred  thousand 
men,  and  vowed  to  sacrifice  all  the  Romans  to  his  gods. 
He  besieged  the  city  of  Florence,  and  reduced  it  to  the 
utmost  straits  ;  but  the  Romaui,  commanded  by  Stihco, 
obtained  a  complete  victory  over  him,  without  any  loss  of 
men  :  fof  Radagaisus,  being  struck  with  a  sudden  panic, 
immediately  fled,  and,  being  taken  prisoner,  with  his  two 
sons,  was  put  to  death,  and  his  scattered  troops  being  also 
taken,  were  sold  like  droves  of  cattle.  Notwithstanding 
these  defeats,  Aiaric  resolved  to  lead  his  Goths  to  attack 
Rome  itself;  for,  as  Socrates  and  Sozomen  tell  us,  he  said, 
"  I  constantly  feel  an  impulse  within  me  that  gives  me 
"  no  rest,  but  presses  me  to  go  and  destroy  that  city." 
He  marched,  therefore,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  from- 
Q 


182  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Tuscany  towards  Rome,  in  the  year  409,  and  having 
pitched  his  camp  in  the  neighbourhood,  he  laid  close  siege 
to  it.  In  the  year  410,  the  scarcity  of  provisions  occa- 
sioned a  famine  to  rage  to  a  degree  that  had  never  been 
felt  before.  ^'  Such  was  the  force  of  hunger  there,"  says 
St.  Jerom,  "  that  they  fed  upon  the  most  execrable  meats  ; 
"  the  people  tore  one  another  to  pieces,  to  devour  their 
"  flesh ;  and  mothers  did  not  even  spare  the  infants  at 
"  their  breasts,  inhumanly  eating  up  what  they  had 
'•  lately  brought  into  the  world." — Ep.  16.  Eusebius  the 
historian,  relates,  that  Rome  was  then  infected  with  a 
plague  that  sAvept  away  ten  thousand  inhabitants  in  a  day, 
for  several  days,  and  filled  the  streets  with  carcasses  of 
the  dead.  Alaric,  availing  himself  of  this  distress,  assault- 
ed the  city  on  the  24th  of  August,  and  having  taken  and 
pillaged  it,  set  it  on  fire,  excepting  the  church  of  S\.  Peter 
and  Paul,  to  which  he  granted  the  privilege  of  a  sanctuary. 
The  fall  of  Rome  was  an  object  of  surprise  and  sorrow 
to  many  nations,  on  account  of  the  extraordinary  figure 
it  had  made  in  the  world.  St.  Jerom,  who  was  then  at 
Bethlehem,  lamented  (in  the  words  of  Virgil,  describing 
the  conflagration  and  destruction  of  Troy — iEneid,  1.  2.) 
the  fate  of  that  ancient  and  powerful  city,  which,  after 
having  subsisted  eleven  hundred  and  sixty  years,  fell  a 
prey  to  an  obscure  Goth,  who  could  scarce  be  said  to  be 
master  of  a  foot  of  ground.  The  Christians  shared  in 
these  public  calamities,  but  by  their  charity,  resignation, 
and  patience,  they  found  in  them  a  source  of  solid  com- 
fort and  spiritual  joy,  God  converting  all  things  to  the 
good  of  his  elect.  The  holy  Pope,  Innocent,  signalized 
his  zeal,  piety,  and  charity  on  this  occasion,  and  exhorted 
Ills  flock  to  draw  an  advantage  from  their  sufferings,  by 
making  a  good  use  of  them  ;  and  so  much  were  the  Hea- 
thens edified  at  the  patience  and  resignation  with  which 
they  suffered  the  loss  of  their  goods,  and  whatever  was 
dear,  without  any  murmuring  or  complaint,  that  they  came 
in  crowds,  desiring  to  be  instructed  in  the  faith,  and  to  be 
baptized.  The  letters  of  this  zealous  Pontiff*  are  replete 
with  excellent  instructions^.  In  his  letters  to  the  holy 
Bishops,  Exuperius  and  Decentius,  he  says,  that  absolu- 
tion is  never  to  be  denied  to  dying  penitents,  and  speaks 
in  clear  terms  of  the  holy  Sacraments  of  Confirmation  and 
Extreme  Unction.     When,  iu  the  year  416,  he  ratified 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  183 

the  decisions  of  the  two  African  Councils,  against  the  er- 
rors of  Pelagiiis,  he  observed, in  his  answer  to  the  Bishops, 
that  all  ecclesiastical  matters  are,  by  Divine  right,  to  be 
referred  to  the  Apostolic  see,  according  to  the  ancient 
rule,  which  has  always  been  observed  by  the  whole  world  ; 
and  St.  Augustine,  who  had  drawn  up  the  synodal  letters, 
said,  on  the  arrival  of  Innocent's  confirmation  of  the  two 
Councils  of  Carthage  and  Milevum,  "  The  decisions  have 
'^  been  already  sent  to  the  Apostolic  see  :  the  rescripts  are 
"  also  come  from  thence.     The   cause  is  now  finished. 
"  Would  to  God  the  error  may  at  last  be  at  an  end.'^ — 
Serm.  131.     St.  Innocent  died  in  the  year  417.     St.  Zo- 
simus  governed  the  Church  only  one  year.     St.  Boniface 
Avas  raised  to  the  Pontificate,  on  the  29th  of  December, 
in  the  year  418.     He  testified  the  highest  esteem  for  the 
great  St.  Augustine,  who  addressed  to  him  four  books 
against  the  Pelagians.     This  holy  Pope  died  towards  the 
end  of  the  year  422.    Upon  his  demise   St.  Celestine  was 
elected  by  the  wonderful  consent  of  the  w4iole  city  of 
Rome,  as  St.  Augustine  writes.     It  was  this  holy  Pontifi* 
that  sent  St.  Palladius  to  preach  the  faith  to  the  Scots  in 
North  Britain.     St.  Patrick  also  received  a  commission 
from  him  to  preach  to  the  Irish,  in  the  year  431.  St.  Ce- 
lestine died  on  the  first  of  August,  in  the  year  432.     St. 
Sixtus  III.  governed  the  Church  near  eight  years.     He 
wrote  in  defence  of  the  grace  of  God  against  its  enemies, 
and  closed  his  life  on  the  28th  of  March,  in  the  year  440. 
St.  Leo,  surnamed  the  Great,   was  raised  to  the  first 
Chair  of  the  Church,  and  received  the  Episcopal  conse- 
cration on  the  20th  of  December,  in  the  year  440.     He 
applied  himself  with  diligence  to  cultivate  the  great  field 
committed  to  his  care,  especially  to  pluck  up  the  weeds 
of  heretical  errors,  and  to  root  out  the  thorns  of  vices 
wherever  they  appeared.     He  never  intermitted  to  preach 
to  his  people  with  great  zeal.     One  hundred  and  one  ser- 
mons, preached  by  him  on  the  principal  festivals  of  the 
year,   are  still  extant.     There  are  also  among  his  works 
nine  sermons  on  the  fasts  of  the  Ember  days  in  December, 
and  one  hundred  and  forty-one  epistles  on  important  sub- 
jects of  faith  and  discipline,  which  suflSciently  show  his 
pastoral  vigilance  and  labours  in  every  part  of  the  Chris- 
tian world,  for  the  advancement  of  piety.     His  writin<^s 
a««ainst  the  Manichees,  Arians,  Apollinarists,  Nestorians, 


184  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Eutychians,  Novatians,  and  Donatists,  arfe  standing  proofs 
of  his  extraordinary  genius  and  indefatigable  zeal,  and 
are  an  armory  against  all  heresies.  Herein  he  clearly 
explains  the  whole  mystery  of  the  incarnation,  and  express- 
ly says,  that  the  true  body  of  Christ  is  really  received  by  the 
faithful  in  the  holy  Eucharist — Epis.  46,  47,  and  Serm. 
6.  de  jejun.  sept.  mens.  He  is  very  explicit  on  the  su- 
premacy of  St.  Peter  and  his  successors,  the  oblation  of 
the  sacrifice,  the  bendiction  of  chrism,  the  invocation  and 
intercession  of  saints — ^Ep.  89,  125,  and  Serm.  2.  4.  15. 
34.  41,  &c. 

The  example  of  St.  Leo  shows,  that  even  in  the  vi'orst 
of  times,  a  holy  pastor  is  the  greatest  comfort  and  sup- 
port of  his  flock.  He  was  reverenced  and  beloved  by  all 
ranks  of  people,  even  infidels  and  barbarians,  on  account 
of  his  humility,  mildness,  charity,  and  other  shining  vir- 
tues. When  Attila,  King  of  the  Huns,  styled  the  terror 
of  the  world,  and  the  scourge  of  Gud^  was  enriching  him- 
self with  the  plunder  of  many  nations  and  cities,  and 
advancing  in  his  career  towards  Rome,  all  Italy  was  in 
a  general  consternation,  and  St.  Leo  was  requested  to  go 
meet  him,  in  hopes  of  mollifying  his  rage.  His  army, 
which,  according  to  Jornandes,  amounted  to  the  prodi- 
gious number  of  seven  hundred  thousand  fighting  men, 
was  vanquished  in  the  year  452,  by  the  Roman  General 
Aetius,  in  a  most  bloody  battle  fought  in  the  extensive 
plains  of  Champagne,  near  Challons.  Attila,  enraged  at 
this  defeat,  repaired  his  losses  and  entered  Italy  by  Pan- 
p-onia,  in  the  year  453.  He  took  and  burnt  the  city  of 
Aquiieia,  filled  the  whole  country  with  blood  and  desola- 
tion, and  destroyed  all  before  him  by  fire  and  sword. 
He  sacked  Milan,  razed  Pavia,  and  depopulated  whole 
provinces.  Multitudes  of  the  inhabitants  fled  from  his 
arms,  for  protection,  into  the  little  islands  in  the  shallow 
lakes  at  the  head  of  the  Adriatic  Gulf,  and  there  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  noble  city  and  republic  of  Venice. 
The  weak  Emperor,  Valentinian  III.  shut  himself  up  in 
Ravenna,  and  the  Romans,  in  the  utmost  terror,  expected 
to  see  the  barbarians  speedily  before  their  gates.  Such 
was  the  state  of  affairs  when  St.  Leo  went  to  meet  Attila 
near  Ravenna.  Contrary  to  the  expectation  of  every  one, 
he  received  the  Pope  with  great  honour,  and  gave  him  a 
favourable  audience.     St.  Leo  on  his  part  addressed  the 


ClitJRCli  OF  CHRIST.  185 

barbarian  with  so  much  energy,  eloquence,  and  dignity, 
that  he  prevailed  on  him  to  forbear  all  hostility,  to  repass 
the  Alps,  and  retire  beyond  the  Danube,   into  Pannonia, 
where  Attila  died  of  a  violent  vomiting  of  blood,  in  the 
year  453.     St.  Leo  likewise  went  to  meet  Genseric,  King 
of  the  Vandals,  in  Africa,  when  he  landed  in  Italy  with  a 
powerful   army,  being  invited  into    it  by  the    empress 
Eudoxia,  who  had  taken  a  disgust  to '  her  husband  Max- 
imus,  for  having  forced  her  to  marry  him  after  the  mur- 
der of  her  former  husband,  Valentinian  III.     The  holy 
Pope  prevailed  on  this  Vand&l  King  to  restrain  his  troops 
from  slaughtering  the  citizens  of  Rome,  and  to  content 
himself  with  the  plunder  of  the  city.     Accordingly,  having 
entered  it  without  opposition,  in  the  year  455,  he  deliver- 
ed it  up  to  the  soldiers,  who,  after  pillaging  it  for  the 
space  of  fourteen  days,  retired  at  length  with  an  immense 
booty.     St.   Leo  having    filled  the  holy  see  twenty-one 
years,  one  month,  and  thirteen  days,  died  on  the  10th  of 
November,  461.     St.  Hilarius,  his  successor,  died  in  the 
year  467.     L^pon  his  demise  St.  Simplicius,  the  ornament 
of  the  Roman  Clergy,  was  raised  by  Divine  Providence 
to  the  chair  of  St.    Peter,  to  comfort  and   support  the 
Church  amidst  the   greatest  storms.     All  the  provinces 
of  the  Western  Empire,  out  of  Italy,  were  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  barbarians.     The  ten  last  emperors,  during 
twenty  years,  were  rather  shadows  of  power  than  sove- 
reigns.    The  governors  levied  heavy  taxes  in  the  most 
arbitrary  ways,  and  oppressed  the  people  at  discretion. 
Italy  itself,  by  the  ravages  of  foreigners,  was  almost  de- 
populated, and  the  Imperial  armies  consisted  chiefly  of 
the  Suevi,  Alans,  Heruli,  &c.     Such  was  the  condition  of 
the  Roman  state  in  its  decline.  It  was  torn  by  intestine  con- 
vulsions and  civil  dissensions,  and  had  within  itself  the  seed 
of  its  own  destruction,  which  sooner  or  later  must  occa- 
sion the  dissolution  of  a  body  politic,  no  less  certainly  than 
the  internal  weakness  of  the  animal  body  must  bring  it  at 
length  to  a  fatal  period.     The  Heruli,  a  people  of  that 
part  of  Germany  now  called  Mecklenburg,  demanded  one- 
third  of  the  lands  of  Italy  for  themselves,  and  upon  re- 
fusal, they  chose  for  their   leader  Odoacer,  one  of  the 
lowest  extraction,  but  a  tall,  resolute,  ajid  intrepid  man, 
then  an  officer  in  the  guards.     He  entered  the  city  of 
Rome  in  the  year  476,  and  was  proclaimed  King  of  Italy, 


186  HISTORT  OF  THE 

and,  out  of  contempt  to  Rome,  fixed  his  royal  seat  at 
Ravenna.  He  deposed  the  young  Emperor  Augustulus, 
when  he  had  only  reigned  eight  months  ;  extinguished  the 
imperial  title  in  the  West  ;  and  put  to  death  Orestes, 
who  was  regent  of  the  empire,  for  his  son  Augustulus. 
Odoacer,  however,  spared  the  life  of  the  young  beautiful 
prince,  appointed  him  a  salary  of  six  thousand  pounds  of 
gold,  and  permitted  him  to  live  at  full  liberty  near  Naples. 
The  holy  Pope  Simplicius  was  in  the  interim  wholly 
taken  up  in  comforting  and  relieving  the  afflicted,  and  in 
sowing  the  seeds  of  the  Catiiolic  faith  among  the  Barba- 
rians. The  Eastern  Empire  gave  his  zeal  no  less  em- 
ployment and  concern,  particularly  when  he  discovered 
the  artifices  of  Acacius,  Cnapheus,  and  Peter  Mongus, 
and  saw  the  faith  ambiguously  explained  and  betrayed  by 
the  famous  decree  of  union,  called  the  JHenoticojij  which 
the  emperor  Zeno,  son  and  successor  to  Leo  the  Thra- 
cian,  had  published  in  favour  of  the  Eutychians.  St. 
Simplicius  governed  the  Church  fifteen  years,  eleven 
months,  and  six  days,  and  went  to  receive  the  reward  of 
his  labours  in  the  year  483.  St.  Felix  III.  died  the  ninth 
year  of  his  Pontificate,  on  the  25th  of  February,  in  the 
year  492.  St.  Gelasius  filled  the  Apostolic  see  four  years, 
eight  months,  and  eighteen  days.  He  was  illustrious,  not 
only  for  his  profound  erudition,  but  also  for  his  extraordi- 
nary humihty,  temperance,  austerity,  liberality  to  the 
poor,  and  purity  of  manners.  In  his  writings  he  expressly 
mentions  the  blessing  of  holy  oils,  the  anointing,  and  other 
ceremonies  used  at  Baptism,  the  blessing  of  holy  water, 
the  invocation  of  the  saints,  veneration  of  relics,  votive 
masses,  holy  communion,  &c.  He  died  on  the  21st  of 
November,  in  the  year  495.  St.  Anastasius  II.  filled  the 
Papal  chair  about  tvyo  years.  St.  Symmachus,  a  native 
of  Sardinia,  and  Arch-deacon  of  the  Roman  Church,  was 
raised  to  the  holy  see  in  the  year  498.  He  died  on  the 
19th  of  July,  in  the  year  514. 

It  was  in  the  fifth  century  that  the  Southern  Picts,  so 
called  from  the  custom  of  painting  their  bodies  in  Caesar's 
time,  were  converted  to  Christ,  by  St.  Ninianus,  as  ve- 
nerable Bede  tells  us,  1.  3.  Hist.  c.  4.  The  French  were 
likewise  converted  to  Christianity  about  the  close  of  this 
century  ;  C'iovis  their  king,  with  three  thousand  officers 
of  his  army,  having  been  baptized  in  the  year  496,.  by  St. 


^  CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  187 

Remigius,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  on  Christmas  day. 
This  great  Apostle  of  the  French  nation  was  one  of  the 
brightest  hghts  of  the  GauHsh  Church,  illustrious  for  his 
learning,  eloquence,  sanctity,  and  miracles.  He  was 
raised  to  the  Episcopacy  when  he  was  twenty-two  years 
old,  held  that  dignity  about  seventy-two  years,  and  died 
in  the  94th  year  of  his  age.  Hincmar  informs  us,  that 
St.  Remigius  gave  to  the  Church  of  Rheims  a  silver  cha- 
lice, ornamented  with  several  images,  and  on  it  he  caused 
three  verses  to  be  engraved,  which  express  the  Catholic 
doctrine  concerning;  the  blessed  Eucharist: 

*'  Hauriat  hinc  jjopulus  vitam  de  sanguine  sdcro, 
*'  Tajecto  (Bternus  quern  fudit  vulnere  ChrisiuSj 
"  Remigius  reddit  Domino  sua  vota  sacerdos.^^ 

This  holy  vase  ivas  hy  Remigius  givhiy 
To  cheer  the  soidy  and  clear  the  ivay  to  Heav'^Uy 
Prom  whence  each  true  believer  may  he  fed 
With  the  sacred  blood  his  Saviour  shed. 

The  Providence  of  God  raised  a  great  number  of  other 
holy  bishops  and  learned  doctors  in  this  age,  to  maintain 
the  purity  of  faith,  and  to  combat  a  numerous  brood  of  here- 
sies that  started  up,  and  assaulted  the  Church  with  great 
violence.  The  great  St.  Augustine,  after  shining  like  a 
bright  luminary  for  a  considerable  time  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, continued  his  labours  for  the  Church  about  thirty 
years  in  the  fifth,  and  was  the  chief  instrument  of  God  in 
overthrowing  the  errors  of  the  Donatists,  Manicheans, 
and  Pelagians.  The  Donatists  had  already  caused  great 
tumults  and  contests,  and  spread  devastation  over  Africa 
for  more  than  a  hundred  years.  The}'^  now  reckoned 
above  five  hundred  Bishops  of  their  faction,  and  were  di- 
vided into  so  many  difi'erent  sects,  in  Muritania  and 
Numidia,  that  they  themselves  did  not  know  their  num- 
ber. At  length,  in  the  year  411,  a  famous  conference, 
that  was  opened  at  Carthage  on  the  4th  of  June,  and 
continued  three  days,  gave  a  mortal  blow  to  their  schism, 
for  the  Donatist  bishops  being  publicly  refuted  and 
worsted,  the  greatest  part  of  them  renounced  their  errors, 
and  from  that  time  their  followers  returned  in  crowds  to 
the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  great  Augus- 
tine had  a  principal  share  in  the  disputation,  and  bore 
away  the  glory  of  that  triumphant  day.    When  t^icir 


188  HISTORY    OF    THE 

schism  was  nearly  extinguished,  the  Cluirch  saw  herself 
attacked  by  new  enemies:  Pelagius,  an  Englishman,  and 
Celestius,  a  Scotchman,  Julian  and  their  Ibllovvers,  the 
Semi-pelagians  in  Gaul,  at  Lerins  and  Marseilles,  broach- 
ed most  dangerous  errors,  chiefly  regarding  original  sin, 
and  the  necessity  of  Divine  grace.  It  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered that  the  heresy  of  Pelagius  found  so  many  advo- 
cates, for  as  pride  is  become  the  darling  passion  of  man's 
heart,  through  the  corruption  of  human  nature  by  sin, 
men  are  born  with  a  propensity  to  Pelagianism  or  prin- 
ciples which  flatter,  an  opinion  of  our  own  strength,  merit, 
and  self-sufliciency.  Next  to  Arianism,  the  Church  never 
received  a  more  dangerous  assault.  But  this  formidable 
heresy  was  nobly  combated  and  refuted  by  St.  Augustine 
and  Jerom,  and  anathematized  by  the  authority  of  the 
Apostolic  see.  The  glorious  Augustine,  by  several  learn- 
ed volumes,  clearly  proved,  that,  without  the  succour  of 
Divine  Grace,  man  can  do  nothing,  can  not  so  much  as 
form  one  good  thought,  conducive  to  eternal  life,  nor  take 
the  least  step,  towards  God,  by  supernatural  virtue,  "  lor 
"  as  the  eye  of  the  body,  though  perfectly  sound,  cannot 
"  see  unless  it  be  assisted  by  the  light,  so  in  like  man- 
^*  ner,"  says  this  holy  doctor,  "  neither  can  a  man  live 
"well,  but  by  eternal  light,  which  is  derived  from  God." 

St.  Prosper  of  Aquitain,  zealously  opposed  the  progress 
of  Semi-pelagianism.  About  the  year  431  he  wrote  his 
most  elegant  poem  On  the  ungrateful,  and  published  two 
books  in  answer  to  the  objections  of  Vincent  of  Lerins, 
and  of  Cassian,  the  famous  abbot  of  St.  Victor's  at  Mar- 
seilles, whom  he  styles  the  CollatoVj  as  having  been  the 
author  of  the  book  of  Conferences,  and  of  the  twelve 
books  of  The  Inaiitut'wns  of  a  monastic  LAfe,  wherein  the 
spiritual  maxims  of  the  fnost  experienced  monks  of  Egypt 
are  collected.  St.  Prosper  wrote  a  chronicle  from  the 
creation  of  the  world  to  the  year  455,  and  a  book  of  four 
hundred  sentences  drawn  from  the  works  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, which  is  an  excellent  abstract  of  his  doctrine  on 
grace.  Among  other  things,  he  says,  "that  the  see  of 
"  St.  Peter  fixed  at  Rome,  presides  over  the  whole 
"  world,  possessing  by  religion  what  it  never  had  subdued 
"  by  arntis." 

St.  Peter  Chrysologus,  Archbishop  of  Ravenna,  flou- 
r  jghed  also  in  the  fifth  century.  His  reputation  as  a  preacher 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  189 

ran  so  high  as  to  procure  him  the  surname  of  Chrijsologiis, 
which  is  as  much  as  to  say,  that  his  speeches  were  ol" 
gold,  or  excellent.  We  have  an  hundred  and  seventy-six 
of  his  discourses  still  extant.  He  strongly  recommends 
the  communion  of  the  body  of  Christ,  Serm.  65, 67, 68,  Sec. 
every  where  extols  the  excellency,  and  inculcates  the  obli- 
gation of  alms-deeds,  prayer,  and  fasting. 

St.  Severianus,  bishop  of  Scythopolis  ;  St.  Porphyrius, 
bishop  of  Gaza,  St,  Maximus,  bishop  of  Riez  ;  St.  Medard, 
bishop  of  Noyon  ;  St.  C;«sarius  and  St.  Hilary,  arch- 
bishops of  Aries  ;  St.  Honoratus,  arch-bishop  of  Marseilles  ; 
St.  Severinus,  apostle  of  Austria  ;  and  St.  Eucherius, 
bishop  of  Lyons,  were  likewise  great  luminaries  in  the 
fifth  century.  St.  Isidore,  bishop  of  Pelusium,  was  looked 
upon  as  a  living  rule  of  religious  perfection.  We  have 
still  extant  two  thousand  and  twelve  of  his  letters,  abound- 
ing with  excellent  instructions  of  piety,  and  with  theologi- 
cal and  critical  learnins:.  We  have  also  a  correct  edition 
of  the  homilies  and  sermons  of  St.  Maximus,  the  illus- 
trious bishop  of  Turin,  with  Muratori's  remarks,  from  a 
manuscript  of  the  Ambrosian  Library,  above  one  thousand 
years  old.  St.  Gaudentius,  bishop  of  Brescia,  is  called, 
])y  Ruffinus,  "  the  glory  of  the  doctors  of  the  age  wherein 
lie  lived."  The  Church  of  Brescia  possessed  a  great  trea- 
sure in  this  holy  pastor.  He  constantly  broke  the  bread 
of  life  to  his  flock,  and  fed  their  souls  with  the  important 
truths  of  salvation.  We  have  twenty  of  his  sermons  still 
extant.  In  the  second^  which  he  made  for  the  Neophytes, 
after  their  coming  out  of  the  font,  he  explains  to  them  the 
mysteries  which  he  could  not  expound  in  the  presence  of 
the  Catechumens,  especially  of  the  blessed  Eucharist,  of 
which  he  says,  "  The  Great  Creator,  the  Lord  of  Nature, 
**  who  bringeth  the  bread  out  of  the  ground,  maketh  also 
"  bread  of  his  own  body  ;  because  he  hath  promised,  and 
^'  is  able  to  perform  it,  and  he  who  made  wine  of  water, 
"  converteth  wine  into  his  own  blood."  Bibl.  Pat.  t.  5.  p. 
949.  Labbe  says,  that  St.  Gaudentius  died  in  the  year  427. 

St.  Germanus,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  and  St.  Lupus,  bishop 
of  Troyes,  lived  also  in  this  century,  and  became  illus- 
trious for  the  fame  of  their  sanctity,  doctrine,  and  mira- 
cles. Burning  with  zeal  for  the  glory  of  Christ,  they  as- 
sisted at  the  synod  and  public  conference  at  Verulam, 
about  the  year  446,  according  to  Spelman,  and  confuted 


190  HISTORY    OF    THE 

f 

the  errors  of  Agricola,  a  disciple  of  Pelagius  and  Celes- 
tius,  who  denied  the  corruption  of  human  nature  by  origi- 
nal sin,  and  the  necessity  of  divine  grace.  They  confirmed 
the  Catholics  of  Britain  in  the  true  faith,  converted  great 
numbers,  even  of  those  who  were  spreading  the  poison  of 
Pelagianism  through  that  island,  and  entirely  banished  the 
heresy  by  their  prayers,  preaching,  and  renowned  mira- 
cles, which  are  related  by  Bede,  Constantius,  and  Nen- 
nius,  the  British  historians.  It  was  during  the  second  mis- 
sion of  St.  Germanus  into  Britain,  as  Carte  asserts,  that 
the  Britons  gained  the  famous  Alleluiah  victory  over  the 
army  of  the  Picts  and  Saxon  pirates,  without  bloodshed, 
by  a  stratagem  the  holy  bishop  had  recourse  to.  See  Bede 
Hist.  1.  1.  c.  1.  Usher  A.  B.  c.  11,  &c. 

St.  Mammertus,  archbishop  of  Vienne,  in  Dauphine,  in 
the  year  447,  was  a  prelate  renowned  in  the  Church  for 
his  sanctity,  learning  and  miracles.  He  instituted  in  his 
diocese  the  yearly  fasts  and  supplications  called  the  Roga- 
tionSf  to  appease  the  wrath  of  Heaven,  and  avert  the 
scourges  and  public  calamities  with  which  the  country 
was  then  afflicted. 

St.  Vincent  of  Lerins,  who  lived  abouf  this  period,  in- 
forms us  in  his  prologue,  that  having  been  for  some  time 
tossed  about  in  the  storms  of  a  busthng  military  life,  and 
seriously  considering  the  dangers  with  which  he  was  sur- 
rounded, he  made  for  the  desired  peaceful  and  safe  haven 
of  religion  with  all  the  sail  he  could,  that  he  might  divest 
his  soul  of  its  ruffling  passions  of  pride  and  vanity,  and 
that  being  further  removed  from  worldly  temptations,  he 
might  endeavour  more  easily  to  avoid,  not  only  the  wrecks 
of  the  present  life,  but  also  the  burnings  of  that  which  is 
to  come.  For  this  end  he  shut  himself  up  in  the  famous 
monastery  of  Lerins,  not  far  from  the  coast  of  Lower  Pro- 
vence, towards  Antibes.  In  this  place,  he  assures  us,  he 
earnestly  strove  to  redeem  time,  and  to  turn  it  always  to 
the  best  account,  reflecting  that  those  fleeting  moments 
pass  as  quick  as  they  come,  never,  never  more  to  return, 
as  water  which  is  gone  from  its  source,  runs  to  it  no  more. 
There  were  too  other  Vincents  living  at  Marseilles,  at  that 
very  time,  and  there  might  be  others  of  the  same  name, 
one  of  whom  might  have  been  a  semi-pelagian.  But  the 
saint  we  here  speak  of,  condemned  the  profane  novelties 
of  semi-pelagianism  with  great  warmth,  and  highly  ex- 


I 


CirURCH    OF    CHRIST.  191 

lolled  the  letter  of  Pope  Celestine.to  the  bishops  of  Gaul. 
Out  of  hiunility,  he  disguised  himself  under  the  name  of 
PeregrimiSj  a  pilgrim  or  stranger  on  earth,  the  least  of  all 
ike  servants  of  God,  and  less  than  the  least  of  all  the  SaintSy 
unworthy  to  bear  tlie  holy  name  of  a  Christian.  He  con- 
sidered tiiat  true  faith  is  necessary  to  salvation  no  less 
than  morality,  and  that  the  former  is  the  foundation  of 
Christian  virtue  ;  and  he  grieved  to  see  the  Church,  at 
that  time  pestered  with  numberless  heresies,  which  sucked 
their  poison  from  their  very  antidote,  the  holy  Scriptures, 
as  the  spider  sucks  poison  from  the  very  same  flower  that 
the  bee  extracts  honey.  To  guard  the  faithful  against  the 
dangerous  snares  that  Avere  spread  on  every  side,  and  to 
open  the  eyes  of  those,  who  had  been  already  seduced  by 
the  false  and  perplexing  glosses  of  subtle  refiners,  St.  Vin- 
cent with  great  clearness  and  force  of  reasoning  wrote  a 
book  in  the  year  434,  which  he  entitled  A  Commonitory 
agaiiist  Heretics^  particularly  the  Nestorians  and  Apollina- 
rists,  whom  he  nobly  confutes  herein,  by  general  clear 
principles.  Together  with  the  ornaments  of  eloquence 
and  erudition,  the  inward  beauty  of  his  mind,  and  the 
brightness  of  his  devotion  sparkle  in  every  page  of  this 
book.  He  lays  down  this  rule,  or  fundamental  principle, 
in  which  he  found,  by  a  diligent  inquiry,  all  Catholic  pas- 
tors and  the  ancient  Fathers  to  agree,  that  such  doctrine 
is  truly  Cai/wHc,  as  hath  been  believed  in  all  places j  at  all 
times,  and  by  all  the  faithful,  Com.  c.  3.  By  this  test  of 
universality,  antiquity,  and  consent,  he  says  all  contro- 
verted points  in  behef  must  be  tried.  He  shows,  that 
whilst  Novalian,  Donatus,  Arius,  Pelagius,  Sic.  expound 
the  divine  oracles  ditferent  ways,  to  avoid  the  perplexity 
of  errors,  we  must  interpret  the  holy  Scriptures  by  the 
tradition  of  the  Catholic  Church,  as  the  clue  to  conduct 
us  in  the  truth  ;  for  this  tradition,  derived  from  the  Apos- 
tles, manifests  the  true  meaning  of  the  holy  Scriptures, 
and  all  novelty  in  faith  is  a  certain  mark  of  heresy.  He 
says,  that  new  teachers,  who  have  made  bold  with  one 
article  of  faith,  will  proceed  on  to  others ;  and  what  will 
be  the  consequence  of  this  reforming  of  religion,  but  only 
that  these  refiners  will  never  have  done,  till  they  have  re- 
formed it  quite  away.  C.  29.  He  elegantly  expatiates  on 
the  divine  charge  given  to  the  Church,  to  maintain  invio- 
lable the  sacred  depositum  of  faith,  C  1.  27.  p.  30.     He 


192  HisTonv  or  the 

takes  notice,  tiiat  in  the  works  of  Paulus  Samosata,  Pris- 
cillian,  Eimomius,  Jovinian,  and  other  heretics,  ahiiost 
every  page  is  painted,  and  laid  on  thick  with  Scripture 
texts.  Btit  in  this,  he  says,  heretics  are  like  those  pri- 
soners or  quacks,  who  put  off  their  destructive  potions 
under  inscriptions  of  good  drugs,  and  under  the  title  of 
infallible  cures.  C.  31.  They  imitate  the  Father  of  Lies, 
who  quotetl  Scripture  against  the  Son  of  God  when  he 
tempted  him.  C.  32.  The  Saint  adds,  that  if  a  doubt 
arise  in  interpreting  the  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  in  any 
point  of  faith,  we  must  summon  in  the  holy  Fathers,  who 
have  liv^ed  and  died  in  the  faith  and  communion  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  by  this  test  we  shall  prove  the  false 
doctrine  to  be  novel ;  for  that  only  Ave  must  look  upon  as  in- 
dubitably certain  and  unalterable,  which  all,  or  the  major 
part  of  these  Fathers  have  delivered,  like  the  harmonious 
consent  of  a  general  council.  But  if  any  one  among  them^ 
be  he  ever  so  holy,  ever  so  learned,  holds  any  thing  be- 
sides, or  in  opposition  to  the  rest,  that  is  to  be  placed  in 
the  rank  of  shigular  and  private  opinions,  and  never  to  be 
looked  upon  as  the  public,  general,  authoritative  doctrine 
of  the  Church.  C.  33.  These  general  principles,  by  which 
all  heresies  are  easily  overthrown  and  confounded,  St. 
Vincent  explains  with  equal  elegance  and  perspicuity.  No 
controversial  book  ever  expressed  so  nmch,  and  such  deep 
sense  in  so  few  words. 

St.  Proclus,  archbishop  of  Constantinople,  flourished  at 
the  time  of  the  memorable  earthquakes,  that  were  felt 
during  six  months  in  diverse  parts  of  Egypt  and  the  East, 
especially  near  the  Heirespont.  The  earth  shook  like  a 
ship,  abandoned  to  the  mercy  of  the  winds,  and  tossed  by 
the  fury  of  the  waves  worked  up  by  a  storm.  Amidst  the 
ruins  of  many  stately  buildings,  men  ran  to  and  fro  dis- 
tracted with  fear  and  horror,  not  being  able  to  find  any 
place  of  refuge,  or  security.  At  Constantinople  the  in- 
habitants wandered  in  the  fields,  and  with  the  rest  the  em- 
peror Theodosius  the  younger,  and  all  his  courtiers.  St. 
Proclus  with  his  clergy  followed  his  scattered  flock,  and 
ceased  not  to  comfort  and  exhort  them  aniidst  their  afflic- 
tions. He  implored  the  divine  mercy  with  them  by  unani- 
mous and  common  prayer,  singing  devoutly  the  celebrated 
Trisagion  :  Holy  God,  Holy  Strong;,  Hob/  Immortal^  have 
mercy  upon  us^  whereupon  the  earthquake    ceased.     St. 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  193 

Augustine  tells  us,  that  at  another  time,  under  the  emperor 
Arcadius,  a  great  ball  of  fire  appeared  in  the  air  over 
Constantinople,  and  that  the  emperor  and  all  the  citizens, 
fearing  that  the  city  was  going  to  be  destroyed,  abandon- 
ed it  one  day,  until  God  was  moved  through  their  tears 
and  prayers  to  spare  them  in  his  great  mercy.  T.  6.  p.  622. 

The  great  Theodoret  lived  in  this  age.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  every  branch  of  Syrian,  Greek,  and  Hebrew 
learning.  He  gave  a  large  estate  to  the  poor,  and  was 
consecrated  bishop  of  Cyprus,  in  the  year  423.  He  con- 
verted all  the  Marcianites,  Arians,  and  other  heretics  in 
his  extensive  diocese,  wherein  he  reckoned  800  parishes. 
His  works  are  printed  in  four  volumes,  in  folio.  Hi,5 
Church  History  in  live  books  is  a  valuable  compilation. 
He  assures  us,  that  he  was  himself  an  eye-witness  to  seve- 
i*al  of  the  miracles  which  he  relates  to  have  been  wrought 
by  the  sign  of  the  cross,  by  holy  water,  and  blessed  oil. 
In  his  eighth  discourse  on  the  Maiiyrs,  he  elegantly  explains 
in  what  manner  the  souls  of  the  martyrs,  now  in  Heaven, 
with  the  choirs  of  Angels,  are  our  protectors  and  media- 
tors with  God,  and  he  clearly  demonstrates  that  the  vene- 
ration which  Christians  pay  to  the  saints,  is  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  the  worship  which  the  Heathens  gave  to  their 
false  gods. 

The  illustrious  St.  Cyril,  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  was 
raised  by  God  in  this  age  to  be  the  champion  of  the  Church, 
and  defender  of  the  faith  of  the  Incarnation,  against  Nes- 
torius,  bishop  of  Constantinople,  who  impiously  divided 
Christ  into  two  persons,  the  one  God,  the  other  man,  there- 
fore denied  the  blessed  Virgin  to  be  the  mother  of  God. 
This  new  doctrine  shocked  the  faithful  exceedingly,  ex- 
cited every  where  clamours,  and  caused  great  scandal 
both  among  the  clergy  and  laity.  St.  Cyril,  on  reading 
the  homilies  of  Nestorius,  sent  him  a  mild  expostulation 
on  the  subject,  and  attempted  to  reclaim  him  by  remon- 
strances, but  he  was  answered  with  haughtiness  and  con- 
tempt. The  retiredness  and  austerity  of  Nestorius's  life, 
joined  with  a  hypocritical  exterior  of  virtue,  and  a  super-* 
ficial  learning,  and  fluency  of  words,  gained  him  some  re- 
putation in  the  world.  But  being  full  of  self-conceit,  he 
neglected  the, study  of  the  ancient  fathers,  was  a  man  of 
weak  judgment,  extremely  vain,  violent,  and  obstinate,  as 
the  historians  of  those  times  testify.  St.  Cyril,  who  etu- 
R 


194  HISTORV    OF    THE 

died  under  his  unele  Theophilus,  made  it  his  rule,  never 
to  advance  any  doctrine  which  he  had  not  learned  from 
the  ancient  Fathers,  and  never  ceased  to  exert  his  zeai 
in  maintainhig  the  faith  of  tlie  Church  in  its  primitive 
purity,  and  in  opposing  every  heretical  novelty  at  its  first 
appearance.  With  the  approbation  of  the  emperor  Theo- 
dosius,  he  drove  the  Novatians  and  Jews  out  of  Alexan- 
dria, but  thereby  offended  Orestes  the  governor  so  griev- 
ously, that  he  rejected  all  ofTers  of  reconciliation  with  the 
holy  btshop,  though  he  conjured  him  by  the  Gospels  to 
join  in  sincere  friendship.  This  unhappy  disagreement 
produced  many  pernicious  eflects,  created  several  enemies 
for  St.  Cyril,  and  lessened  his  interest  at  the  imperial 
court.  The  unruly  and  tumultuous  mob  of  the  populous 
city  of  Alexandria,  the  second  in  the  w^orld  for  extent, 
-seditiously  rose  up  against  the  famous  Hypatia,  upon  a 
suspicion  that  she  had  incensed  the  governor  against  their 
bishop.  This  Pagan  lady  kept  a  public  school  of  Platonic 
philosophy  in  the  city.  Her  reputation  for  learning  was 
so  great,  that  Synesius  and  other  philosophers  of  f  he  first 
rank  flocked  to  her  from  all  parts,  and  consulted  her  on 
the  most  intricate  questions,  wShe  was  much  respected 
and  consulted  by  the  governor,  which  made  the  populace 
pull  her  out  of  her  chariot,  mangle  her  flesh,  and  tear  her 
body  in  pieces  in  the  streets  of  Alexandria,  in  the  year 
415,  to  the  scandul  of  all  good  men,  and  to  the  great  grief 
of  St.  Cyril,  who  was  by  no  means  conscious  of  a  crime 
so  horrible  and  so  shocking  to  human  nature. 

This  holy  doctor  triumphed  at  length  over  all  his  ene- 
mies by  his  meekness,  intrepidity  and  courage.  He  sent 
Nestorius  twelve  propositions,  called  Ancdhemtdisms^  to  be 
signed  by  him,  as  a. proof  of  his  orthodoxy,  but  the  here- 
siarch  appearing  more  perverse  and  obstinate  than  ever^ 
the  third  general  council  was  opened  at  Ephesus,  in  the 
year  431,  by  two  hundred  and  seventy-four  bishops,  with 
St.  Cyril  at  their  head,  as  Pope  Celestine's  legate  and 
representative.  A  throne  was  raised  in  the  middle  of  the 
Church,  and  on  it  was  erected  tlie  book  of  the  Gospel  to 
represent  the  assistance  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  prom- 
ised that  he  will  be  in  the  midst  of  the  pastors  assembled 
in  his  name.  The  bishops  being  seated  on  both  sides, 
according  to  the  dignity  of  their  sees,  the  heretical  sermons 
of  Nestorius,  who  refused  to  appear,  though  then  in  the 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  195 

city  and  thrice  cited,  were  read,  and  depositions  received 
against  him.  His  doctrine  was  examined  and  condemned, 
and  the  sentence  of  excommunication  and  deposition  was 
pronounced  aj^ainst  him,  after  which  he  was  banished  by 
the  Emperor  Theodosius,  at  the  reqi  ;est  of  John  of  Antioch, 
his  former  friend,  to  Oasis,  in  the  deserts  of  Upper  Egypt, 
where  he  died  miserably  and  impenitent.  The  oriental 
bishops  made  peace  with  St.  Cyril  in  the  year  433,  when 
matters  being  cleared  up  to  his  honour,  and  his  conduct 
being  approved,  the  schism  was  extinguished,  and  the 
zealous  patriarch  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  the 
faithful  discharge  of  his  pastoral  duties  till  his  glorious 
death,  in  the  year  444,  on  the  28th  of  June. 

The  Latin  translation  of  this  father's  works  is  printed 
in  six  tomes,  in  folio.  His  extraordinary  devotion  towards 
the  blessed  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist,  appears  from  the 
zeal  with  which  he  frequently  inculcates  the  wonderful 
effects  which  it  produces  in  the  soul  of  him  who  worthily 
receives  it,  especially  in  healing  all  his  spiritual  di;  j'ders, 
strengthening  him  against  temptations,  subduing  t  ".  pas- 
sions, in  giving  life,  and  making  us  one  with  Christ  r  the 
most  sacred  union,  not  only  in  spirit  and  affection,  but 
also  by  a  natural  participation  with  his  humanity.  H.  4. 
Cont.  Nest.  t.  6.  1.  7.  De  Adorat.  tit.  1.  1.  10.  Joan.  t.  4. 
Hence  he  says,  that  "  by  the  holy  communion  we  are 
*'  made  concorporeal  with  Christ,  for  as  wax  melted  and 
"  mingled  with  another  piece  of  melted  wax,  makes  one, 
*'  so  by  partaking  of  his  precious  body  and  blood,  he  is 
*'  united  in  us.  and  we  in  him."  In  his  works  against 
Nestorius,  he  is  also  very  clear  in  establishing  the  reality 
of  Christ's  body,  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  and  the 
holy  sacrifice.  "We  celebrate,  says  he,  the  unbloody 
*'  sacrifice  in  the  Church,  and  do  by  this  means  approach 
"  the  mystical  benediction,  and  are  sanctified,  being  made 
"  partakers  of  the  sacred  flesh  and  precious  blood  of 
"  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  us  all,  and  we  do  not  receive  it 
"  as  common  flesh,  but  as  it  is  truly,  the  hfe  giving  and 
"  proper  flesh  of  the  word."  He  likewise  says  in  his  9th 
homily  on  the  Mystical  Supper,  or  holy  banquet  of  the 
communion  and  sacrifice:  "  The  tremendous  mystery  is 
"  performed,  and  the  Lamb  of  God  sacrificed.  The  Eter- 
"  nal  Wisdom  distributes  his  body  as  bread,  and  his 
*'  saving  bloor!  ns  wine:  The  Maker  gives  himself  to  the 


196  HISTORY    OF    THE 

'*  work  of  his  own  hands.  Life  bestows  itself  to  be  eat 
"  and  drunk  by  men.  He  remains  the  Priest  and  the 
"  victim:  he  who  offers,  and  he  who  is  offered." 

The  Nestorian  heresy  being  condemned  in  the  manner 
above  mentioned,  another  formiddble  heresy  was  broacii- 
ed  by  Eutyches,  abbot  of  a  monastery  of  three  hundred 
monks,  near  Constantinople,  who  had  acquired  a  reputa- 
tion of  virtue,  but  in  effect  was  nj  better  than  an  ignorant, 
proud,  and  obstinate  man.  His  intemperate  zeal  against 
Nestorius,  for  asserting  two  distinct  persons  in  Christ  our 
Lord,  threw  him  into  the  opposite  error,  of  denying  two 
distinct  natures  after  the  incarnation.  This  heresiarch 
being  condemned  in  a  council  of  thirty-two  bishops,  and 
twenty-three  abbots,  held  in  the  year  448,  by  St.  Flavian, 
successor  of  St.  Proclus,  in  the  Archiepiscopal  see  of 
Constantinople,  appealed  to  St.  Leo  the  Great,  complain- 
ing of  the  proceedings  of  the  council,  and  endeavouring 
to  impose  on.  him  by  false  assertions.  But  the  Pope 
being  jiformed  of  the  true  state  of  the  affair,  wrote  to 
him  aa  ample  declaration  of  the  orthodox  faith,  concern- 
ing the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  Yet  by  the  intrigues 
of  Chrysaphius  the  eunuch,  a  kinsman  of  Eutyches,  and 
a  particular  favourite  and  chamberlain  to  the  weak  Em- 
peror Theodosius  II.  a  packed  council  was  assembled  at 
Ephesus,  without  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  and  an  order 
was  obtained,  for  a  re-examinalion  of  the  cause  between 
St.  Flavian  and  Eutyches.  This  pretended  synod,  com- 
monly called  the  Ltatrocinale,  or  cabal  of  Ephesus,  for 
the  violences  therein  used,  met  on  the  eighth  of  August, 
in  the  year  449,  and  Dioscorus,  who  had  succeeded  S.  Cyril 
in  the  patriarchal  see  of  Alexandria,  and  who  was  a  man 
of  a  violent  temper,  an  Eutychian,  and  general  disturber 
of  Christian  peace,  took  upon  him  to  preside  in  it.  The 
false  council  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  thirteen  bish- 
ops, or  their  deputies,  from  Egypt  and  the  East.  Eu- 
tyches was  present  with  two  officers  from  the  Emperor, 
and  a  great  number  of  soldiers.  Every  thing  was  carried 
on  by  violence  and  open  faction,  in  favour  of  Eutyches, 
by  those  officers  and  bishops  who  had  espoused  his  party, 
and  formed  a  cabal.  The  final  result  of  the  proceedings 
was  to  pronounce  sentence  of  deposition  against  St. 
Flavian,  and  Eusebius  of  Dorylajum,  who  had  accused 
Eutyches  of  heretical  errors.     The  legates  sent  by  Pope 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  197 

Leo  to  act  in  his  name,  were  not  suffered  by  Dioscorus 
to  read  his  letters.  They  protested  against  the  unjust 
sentence,  and  opposed  it  with  a  zeal  and  vigour  that  was 
admired  by  the  whole  world,  snys  Theodoret,  Ep.  116. 
Hilarius,  the  deacon,  who  afterwards  succeeded  St.  Leo, 
cried  aloud,  Conlrndiciturj  opposition  is  made.  Diosco- 
rus no  sooner  began  to  read  the  sentence,  but  he  was  in- 
terrupted by  several  oi'  the  bishops,  prostrating  tlicmselves 
before  him,  and  beseeching  him  in  the  most  submissive 
terms,  to  proceed  no  further  in  so  unwarrantable  an  affair. 
Upon  this  he  started  up,  and  called  aloud  for  the  imperial 
commissioners,  who  ordered  the  church  doors  to  be  set 
open,  and  a  band  of  soldiers  to  be  let  in,  followed  by  a 
confused  multitude  with  chains,  clubs,  and  swords.  This 
struck  such  a  terror  into  the  whole  assembly,  that  few 
had  the  courage  to  withstand  the  threat,  except  the  legates, 
who  got  off  with  much  difficulty,  and  to  whom  St.  Flavian 
delivered  in  writing  his  act  of  appeal  to  the  Apostolic 
see,  which  so  provoked  Dioscorus,  Barsumas,  and  others 
of  their  party,  that  they  threw  the  holy  bishop  on  the 
ground,  and  kicked  and  braised  him  with  such  a  degree 
of  malice  and  violence,  that  he  died  within  a  few  days,  a 
martyr  .of  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of 
God.  When  the  council  was  over,  Dioscorus,  with  two 
of  the  Egyptian  bishops,  had  the  insolence  to  excommu- 
nicate St.  Leo.  But  violence  and  injustice  did  not  tri- 
umph long.  Upon  the  first  advice  of  these  proceedings, 
St.  Leo  declared  them  null  and  void.  He  wrote  to  the 
Emperor,  and  conjured  him  in  these  words:  *'  Leave  to 
"  the  bishops  the  liberty  of  defending  the  faith:  no  pow- 
"  er  or  terrors  of  the  w^orld  will  ever  be  able  to  destroy 
"  it — protect  the  Church,  and  seek  to  preserve  its  peace, 
''  that  Christ  may  protect  your  empire,"  The  next  year 
the  Emperor  died,  as  Cedrenus  says,  penitent  and  sensi- 
ble of  his  error,  Chrysaphius  was  disgraced,  and  Eudoxia 
obliged  to  retire  to  Jerusalem.  Marcian  and  St.  Pulche- 
ria  ascending  the  Imperial  throne,  the  fourth  general 
council  was  opened  on  the  8th  of  October,  in  the  year 
451,  at  Chalcedon,  in  the  suburbs  of  Constantinople.  It 
consisted  of  six  hundred  and  ninety  bishops.  St.  Leo 
presided  by  his  legates.  The  memory  of  St.  Flavian  was 
vindicated.  The  wicked  Dioscorus  was  declared  excom- 
municated and  deposed.  Eusebius  of  Dorylseum  was 
R2 


198  HISTORY    OF    THE 

honourably  restored  to  his  see,  and  the  Eutychian  heresy 
was  solemnly  condemned  and  anathematized  by  the  whole 
Church.  The  fathers  of  the  Council,  in  their  synodal 
letter  to  St.  Leo,  beseech  him  to  confirm  their  decrees, 
saying,  "  He  had  presided  over  them,  as  the  head  over  its 
members." — Cone.  t.  4.  p.  833. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Church  of  the  sixth  Century. 

THE  Apostolic  see  was  filled  in  this  century  by  Hor- 
misdas,  John  I.  Felix  IV.  Boniface  II.  John  II.  Agape- 
tus  I.  Silverius,  Viligius,  Pelagius  I.  John  III.  Benedict  I. 
Pelagius  II.  and  St.  Gregory  the  Great. 

After  the  death  of  St.  Symmachus,  Hormisdas  govern- 
ed the  church  nine  years.  He  had  been  engaged  in  wed- 
lock before  he  entered  the  ministry.  He  died  in  odour 
of  sanctity,  in  the  year  523,  and  was  succeeded  by  John 
I.  a  Tuscan  by  birth,  who  sat  two  years  and  nine  months. 
He  was  obliged,  by  Theodoric,  the  Arian  King  of  the 
Goths,  who  resided  chiefly  at  Spoleto,  or  Ravenna,  to  go 
at  the  head  of  an  embassy  of  five  bishops  and  four  sena- 
tors to  Constantinople,  on  a  negotiation  with  the  emperor 
Justin.  The  joy  of  that  city  was  universal,  and  the  pomp 
with  which  the  successor  of  St.  Peter  was  received  there, 
seemed  to  surpass  the  festival  of  a  triumph.  The  inhab- 
itants went  out  twelve  miles  to  meet  him,  carrying  wax 
tapers  and  crosses.  Anastasius  relates,  that  on  entering 
the  city  he  restored  sight  to  a  blind  man.  Whilst  he  was 
in  the  East,  Theodoric  caused  the  great  statesman  and 
philosopher  Boetius,  one  of  the  finest  geniuses  the  world 
ever  produced,  to  be  apprehended  and  tortured  on  a 
wheel,  by  which  his  head  was  squeezed  with  such  vio- 
lence, that  his  eyes  flew  out  ;  then  he  was  beaten  with 
clubs  by  two  executioners,  and  beheaded,  or  rather  his 
head  was  cloven  asunder  in  the  year  52o.  When  the 
holy  Pope  St.  John  landed  at  Ravenna,  with  the  four 
senators,  his  colleagues,  he  was,  by  order  of  Theodoric, 
cast  into  a  dark  and  loathsome  dungeon,  where  he  died  on 
the^7th  of  May,  526. 


CHURCH    OP    CHRIST.  199 

St.  Felix  IV.  succeeded  him  in  the  Pontificate,  and 
died  on  the  18th  of  September,  530.  Boniface  II.  gov- 
erned the  Church  about  two  years,  and  died  in  the  year 
632.  John  II.  died  on  the  26th  of  April,  535.  The  great 
sanctity  of  St.  Agapetus  recommended  him  to  the  love 
and  veneration  of  all  that  knew  him.  He  was  chosen  to 
fill  the  holy  see,  and  consecrated  on  the  4th  of  May,  535. 
By  his  singular  mildness  he  soon  healed  the  wounds  which 
had  been  made  by  dissentions,  and  by  the  unhappy  schism 
of  Dioscorus  against  Boniface  II.  in  the  year  529.  The- 
odatus,  King  of  the  Gk)ths  in  Italy,  hearing  that  the  empe- 
ror Justinian  was  making  preparations  for  an  expedition 
to  recover  Italy,  obliged  Pope  Agapetus  to  undertake  a 
voyage  to  Constantinople,  in  order  to  divert  him  from 
such  a  design.  Upon  his  arrival  in  that  city  he  fell  sick 
and  died,  on  the  17th  of  April,  536,  having  sat  about 
eleven  months  and  three  weeks.  St.  Gregory  the  great 
relates,  Dial.  1.  5.  c.  3.  "  that  this  holy  Pope,  on  his 
**  journey  through  Greece,  cured  a  man  who  was  lame 
*^  and  dumb,  by  saying  mass  for  him." 

Upon  the  demise,  of  St.  Agapetus,  after  a  vacancy  of 
forty- seven  days,  St.  Silverms,  the  son  of  Hormisdas,  was 
chosen.  He  was  violently  persecuted  by  the  empress 
Theodora,  because  he  would  not  come  into  her  unjust 
measures,  and  betray  the  cause  of  the  Catholic  faith. 
The  emperor  Justinian,  the  husband  of  this  violent  and 
crafty  woman,  was  now  master  of  Rome,  His  general, 
Belisarius,  having  sailed  with  a  fleet  of  500  sail  into  Afri- 
ca, had  made  an  easy  conquest  of  the  whole  country,  and 
taken  Carthage  almost  without  opposition.  By  his  victo- 
ries he  extinguished  the  puissant  kingdom  of  the  Vandals, 
and  re-united  Africa  to  the  empire,  after  it  had  been  se- 
parated above  one  hundred  years.  In  the  year  535  he 
marched  with  his  victorious  army  against  Italy,  and  af- 
ter subduing  Sicily,  he  passed  thence  into  Italy,  and  took 
Naples  and  Rome  ;  the  senate  and  people,  at  the  persua- 
sion of  Silverius,  having  opened  the  gates  of  the  city  to 
him,  whilst  the  Gothic  garrison  retired  towards  Ravenna, 
where  Theodatus  being  deposed,  Vitiges,  an  experienced 
officer,  was  raised  to  the  throne,  and  having  marched 
from  Ravenna,  in  the  year  537,  with  an  army  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men,  invested  the  city  of 
Rome.     The  siege  lasted  a  year  and  nine  days,  during 


200  HISTORY   OP   THE 

which  both  Goths  and  Romans  performed  prodigies  of 
valour ;  but  Belisarius  defeated  all  the  attempts  and  stra- 
tagems of  the  Barbarians,  and  in  the  end  obliged  them  to 
retire.  In  the  interim,  the  empress  Theodora  endeavour- 
ed to  promote  the  sect  of  the  Acephali,  or  most  rigid  Eu- 
tychians,  who  rejected  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  but  find- 
ing she  could  never  expect  from  the  firmness  of  Pope 
Silverius  any  thing  favourable  to  her  impious  designs,  she 
resolved  to  compass  his  deposition.  For  this  end  she  made 
her  application  to  the  Arch-deacon  Vigilius,  a  man  of 
address,  and  promised  to  make  him  Pope,  and  to  bestow  on 
him  seven  hundred  pieces  of  gold,  provided  he  would  en- 
gage himself  to  communicate  with  the  three  deposed  Eu- 
tjchian  patriarchs  Anthimus  of  Constantinople,  Severus 
of  Antioch,  and  Theodosius  of  Alexandria.  The  unhappy 
Vigilius  having  assented  to  the  conditions,  the  Empress 
sent  him  to  Rome,  and  charged  him  with  a  letter  to  Beli- 
sarius, commanding  him  to  depose  Silverius,  and  to  con- 
trive the  election  of  Vigilius  to  the  Pontificate.  To  suc- 
ceed the  more  easily  in  so  unwarrantable  a  proceeding, 
the  enemies  of  Silverius  impeached  him  for  high  treason, 
and  suborned  two  false  witnesses  to  forge  a  letter,  which 
was  pretended  to  have  been  written  by  Silverius  to  the 
kins:  of  the  Goths,  invitinj*  him  to  Rome.  Belisarius 
saw  evidently  this  to  be  a  bare-faced  calumny,  yet  he  had 
the  weakness  to  say,  "  The  empress  commands,  I  must 
'*  therefore  obey.  He  who  seeks  the  ruin  of  Silverius 
'*  shall  answer  for  it  at  the  last  day — not  I."  Vigilius 
urged  him  on  one  side,  to  execute  the  project,  and  his 
wife  Antonia  on  the  other.  Silverius  was  therefore  strip- 
ped of  all  his  pontifical  ornaments,  clothed  with  the  habit 
of  a  monk,  and  sent  into  banishment  to  Patara  in  Lycia 
The  bishop  of  that  city  received  the  illustrious  exile  with 
all  possible  marks  of  honour  and  respect,  and,  thinking 
himself  bound  to  undertake  his  defence,  he  repaired  to 
Constantinople,  where  having  obtained  a  private  audience 
of  the  emperor,  he  terrified  him  with  the  threats  of  the 
Divine  judgments  for  the  expulsion  of  the  bishop  of  so 
great  a  see,  telling  him,  as  Liberatus  informs  us,  Brev.  c. 
22,  *'  There  are  many  kings  in  the  world,  but  there  is 
"  only  one  Pope  over  the  whole  world,"  which  words  im- 
ply a  clear  confession  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  see. 
Justinian,  who  had  not  been  sufficiently  apprised  of  the 


I 


CHURCH    OP    CHRIST.  201 

matter,  appeared  startled  at  the  proceedings,  and  gave 
orders  that  Silverius  should  be  sent  back  to  Rome,  and 
restored  to  his  sea,  in  case  he  was  not  convicted  of  the 
treasonable  correspondence  with  the  Goths.  But  Belisa- 
rius,  Vigilius,  and  Antonia,  prevented  his  restoration,  by 
causing  him  to  be  intercepted  on  the  road,  and  to  be 
conveyed  into  the  little  inhospitable  island  of  Palmeruelo, 
near  Tarracina,  where  the  holy  Pope  died  of  hard  usage, 
or,  as  Prdcopius  tells  us,  was  murdered  in  the  year  538. 
That  the  eyes  of  Belisarius  were  afterwards  plucked  out, 
and  that  he  was  reduced  to  beg  his  bread  in  the  streets 
of  Constantinople,  saying,  Give  a  faiihing  to  poor  JBelisa- 
riMS,  is  a  story  founded  on  no  better  authority  than  that 
of  John  Tzetzes,  a  lying  Greek  poet  in  the  twelfth  century. 
The  truth  is,  that  Belisarius,  being  recalled  into  the  East, 
and  sent  against  the  Persians  and  Hunns,  was  at  length 
accused  of  having  been  privy  to  a  conspiracy  against  Jus- 
tinian, and  lost  his  estates  and  honours,  as  Theophanes 
and  Cedrenrfs  testify  ;  but  the  same  authors  add,  that  he 
recovered  them  again,  and  died  in  peace. 

Vigihus,  from  an  ambitious  intruder  and  mercenary 
.schismatic,  became  afterwqe'ds  a  lawful  Pope,  by  the  rati- 
fication and  consent  of  the  Roman  Church  ;  and,  having 
renounced  the  errors  and  commerce  of  the  Acephali,  he 
suffered  much  for  his  steadfast  adherence  to  the  orthodox 
faith.  He  died  in  the  year  555.  Upon  his  demise,  Pe- 
lagius  I.  was  raised  to  the  Pontificate,  which  he  held  near 
five  years.  John  III.  surnamed  Caielinus^  was  elected  in 
the  year  560,  and  governed  the  Church  near  thirteen 
3'^ears.  Benedict  I.  surnamed  Bonosus,  was  chosen  in  the 
year  574,  and  died  in  578.  His  successor  Pelagius  II.  sat 
in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  upwards  of  eleven  years,  and 
died  in  the  beginning  of  the  great  pestilence  in  January  590. 

St.  Gregory,  surnamed  the  Greaty  one  of  the  four  prin- 
cipal doctors  of  the  Latin  Church,  was  raised  to  the  I%n- 
tificate  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  clergy,  senate,  and 
Roman  people,  and  consecrated  on  the  3d  of  September, 
in  the  year  590,  though  he  had  opposed  his  election  with 
all  his  power,  and  concealed  himself  in  the  woods  and 
caverns,  till  he  was  discovered  as  Paul  the  deacon  tells 
us,  by  a  pillar  of  light  appearing  over  the  place  where  he 
lav  disjcuised.  At  the  ao-e  of  35  years  he  took  the  monas- 
tic  habit,  and  built  and  endowed  the  famous  monastery  of 


^02  HISTORY    OF  THE 

St.  Andrew,  on  the  hill  Scaurus,  with  six  other  monasteries 
in  Sicily.  It  is  incredible  how  much  he  wrote  and  labour- 
ed during  the  thirteen  years,  six  months,  and  ten  days, 
that  he  sat  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter ;  what  great  things 
he  achieved  for  the  glory  of  God,  the  good  of  the  Church, 
the  reformation  of  manners,  the  edification  of  the  faithful, 
the  relief  of  the  poor,  the  comfort  of  the  afflicted,  the  es- 
tablishment of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  and  the  advance- 
ment of  piety  and  religion  ;  especially  if  we  consider  the 
austerity  of  his  life,  his  assiduity  in  prayer  and  holy  con- 
templation, and  his  continual  bad  state  of  health  and  fre- 
quent sicknesses.  In  the  beginning  of  his  Pontificate  he 
instituted  the  great  LitanicSj  in  order  to  avert  an  epidemi- 
cal disorder  that  attacked  the  people  of  Rome  after  a  great 
inundation  of  the  Tyber.  Pie  took  occasion  from  this 
calamity  to  exhort  them  to  repentance.  Having  made  a 
pathetic  sermon  on  that  subject,  he  appointed  a  solemn 
procession  in  seven  companies,  with  a  priest  at  the  head 
of  each,  who  were  to  march  from  different  churches,  and 
all  to  meet  in  that  of  St.  Mary  Major,  singing  Kyiie  Elei- 
son  as  they  went  along  the  streets,  until  such  time  as  the 
distemper  ceased.  The  Litanies  that  are  celebrated  on 
the  Rogation-days,  were  instituted  by  St.  Mammertus, 
as  has  been  already  observed,  and  were  afterwards  ex- 
tended to  the  universal  Church,  by  Leo  III.  in  the  eighth 
century.  St.  Gregory's  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God,  and 
the  angelical  function  of  paying  him  the  constant  tribute  of 
praise  in  the  Church,  moved  him  to  reform  the  Church 
music.  He  also  revised  and  reformed  the  Ritual  and  Sa- 
cramentary,  or  ancient  written  order  of  the  Mass,  and  made 
some  accidental  alterations  and  improvements  in  certain 
collects  or  prayers,  the  essential  parts  being  always  the 
same.  Pope  Gelasius  had  thus  augmented  and  revised 
the  liturgy  in  the  year  490,  and  the  conformity  between 
the  present  church  office  and  this  liturgy,  as  well  as  all 
the  other  ancient  liturgic  writings,  mentioned  in  the  apos- 
tolic constitutions,  and  in  the  works  of  St,  Ignatius,  St. 
Justin,  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  St.  Innocent,  Celestine, 
Leo,  ^c.  appears  so  evidently  from  the  Sacramentary, 
Antiphonarium,  and  Responsorium  of  St.  Gregory,  that 
the  four  Magdeburgians  or  Centuriators  acknowledge  that 
the  Fathers  of  the  second  and  third  century  taught  the 
doctrine  of  the  Mass.     St.  Gregory,  Horn.  8.  testifies  that 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST,  2(S 

lie  said  Mass  thrice  on  Christmas  day:  and,  1.  4,  dial.  c. 
55,  he  relates,  that  he  ordered  Mass  to  be  daily  offered 
for  the  soul  of  Justus,  one  of  his  Monks,  during  thirty 
days,  and  that  after  the  Mass  of  the  thirtieth  day,  he  was 
released  from  the  torments  in  which  he  had  been.  From 
this  fact  of  St.  Greofory,  a  trental  of  Masses  for  a  soul 
departed  are  usually  called  the  Gregorian  Masses.  The 
Benedictine  edition  of  this  holy  doctor's  works,  in  four 
volumes,  folio,  is  the  most  accurate.  His  four  books  of 
dialogues,  forty  homilies  on  the  Gospels,  fourteen  books 
of  letters,  and  thirty-five  books  of  moral  comments  upon 
Job,  are  very  interesting  compilations  of  the  main  princi- 
ples of  morality.  His  incomparable  book  O/i  the  Pastoral 
Care,  contains  excellent  instructions  on  the  dangers,  du- 
ties, and  obligations  of  all  pastors  of  souls  who  are  exhort- 
ed and  commanded  by  the  councils  frequently  to  read  it, 
and  in  it,  as  in  a  looking-o:lass,  to  behold  themselves.  He 
preached  his  exposition  of  Ezechiel  in  twenty-two  homi- 
lies, at  the  time  that  Rome  was  besieged,  in  the  year  592. 
He  subscribed  himself  in  ail  his  letters  Servant  of  the  Ser- 
vants of  God.  He  was  always  a  zealous  asserter  of  the  ce- 
libacy of  the  clergy,  and  extended  his  pastoral  solicitude 
over  all  churches,  frequently  observing,  that  the  care  of  the 
churches  of  the  whole  world  was  intrusted  to  St.  Peter, 
and  to  his  successors  in  the  see  of  Rome,  1.  3.  ep.  39. 
He  declared  that  he  received  the  four  general  councils  as 
the  four  Gospels.  The  state  of  Christendom  was  at  that 
time  miserably  distracted,  and  stood  in  need  of  such  a  pas- 
tor as  St.  Gregory,  whose  extraordinary  sanctity,  abilities, 
and  zeal,  rendered  him  equal  to  every  great  enterprise. 
The  Eastern  churches  were  divided  and  shattered  by  the 
heretical  factions  of  the  Nestorians,  and  the  numerous 
spawn  of  the  Eutychians,  all  which  he  repressed.  The 
West  was  harassed  by  barbarians.  A  great  part  of  Italy 
was  become  a  prey  to  the  Lombards,  so  called  from  their 
having  long  beards.  They  were  originally  a  barbarous 
and  idolatrous  nation,  from  Scandinavia  and  Pomerania, 
that  broke  into  the  North  of  Italy  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixth  century.  They  gradually  extended  their  dominions 
under  their  King,  Alboinus,  and  made  themselves  masters 
of  the  grand  city  of  Milan  in  the  year  568.  In  process  of 
time  they  became  so  powerful  that  they  besieged  Rome  it- 
self ;  but  St.  Gregory  engaged  them,  by  entreaties,  to  retire 


204  HISTORY   OF    THE 

into  their  own  territories,  and  by  his  zeal  brought  over  their 
King,  Agiluph,  to  the  Cathohc  faith.  The  Lombard  laws  au- 
thorized duels,  but  only  with  a  buckler  and  clubs:  cum  fiis- 
tibus  et  clypeo.  This  execrable  practice,  of  barbarous 
extraction,  became  more  pernicious  when  more  dangerous 
weapons  were  used,  and  it  was  usurped  by  private  autho- 
rity, though  it  is  in  itself  the  basest,  as  well  as  the  most  hor- 
rible and  unnatural  crime,  unknown  to  the  Jews,  Greeks, 
and  Romans,  and  to  all  civilized  nations,  mo^t  renowned 
for  true  valour.  Yet,  alas  !  since  the  challenge  sent  by 
Francis  I.  of  France  to  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  whom  he 
could  no  longer  face  with  an  army,  as  Spelman  observes, 
duelling  has  been  able,  by  maxims  equally  shocking  to 
reason  and  religion,  to  pass  for  a  test  of  courage  and  a 
point  of  honour,  by  a  false  prostitution  of  those  names. 
True  fortitude  incites  and  enables  a  man  to  bear  all  man- 
ner of  affronts,  and  to  undergo  all  humiliations,  dangers, 
hardships,  and  torments,  for  the  sake  of  virtue  and  duty. 
What  is  more  contrary  to  this  hei'oic  disposition,  what  can 
be  imagined  more  dastardly  than  not  to  be  able  so  much  as 
to  look  humiliation  in  the  face,  or  to  put  up  with  a  petty 
affront  .''  What  more  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  ii 
Christian  than  to  trample  upon  the  favourite  command- 
ment of  Christ,  and  offend  against  all  laws,  divine  and  hu- 
man, rather  than  brook  an  injvuy,  or  bear  a  trifling  offence 
with  patience  and  constancy  !  To  forgive  injuries,  and  to 
suffer  with  humility  for  Christ,  is  the  distinguishing  mark 
of  his  followers,  and  the  very  sonl  of  the  Divine  Law. 
Nay,  it  is  a  glorious  victory  gained  over  ourselves,  by 
which  we  vanquish  our  passions,  and  improve  in  our  souls 
the  habits  of  those  divine  virtues  in  wliich  consists  the 
spirit  of  Christ  and  the  resemblance  we  are  commanded 
to  bear  to  him. 

But  to  return  to  St.  Gregory,  he  reformed  many  grie- 
vous abuses  in  Gaul,  whence  he  banished  Simony, 
which  had  greatly  infected  that  Church.  It  is  to  his  zeal 
that  the  flourishing  kingdom  of  the  Angles,  who  were  ori- 
ginally a  Saxon  people  that  invaded  the  south  part  of 
Great  Britain  and  gave  it  their  name,  owes  its  conversion. 
Christianity  had,  indeed,  been  introduced  into  England  in 
the  second  century,  in  the  reign  of  King  Lucius,  but  it  was 
driven  about  two  hundred  years  after  into  the  moun- 
tains of  Wales,  by  the  Saxon  Pagans,  until  St.  Austin  and 


CHURCH   OP   CHRIST. 


20^ 


ins  colleagues,  St.  Laurence,  St.  Mellitus,  he.  were  sent 
from  Rofiie,  by  Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  to  re-establish 
the  faith  avid  law  of  Jesus  Christ  in  that  island,  by  their 
preaching  and  miraciCs,  about  five  hundred  years  before 
the  Norman  Conquest.  It  was  ilicn  they  converted  the 
English  nation  from  Saxon  Pa<janism,  and  baptized  the 
kings  Elhelbert  and  Sebeil,  with  a  great  number  of  their 
subjects.  Historians  relate,  that  St.  Austin  cnicred  the 
kingdom  of  Kent  with  forty  companions,  preceded  by  the 
Cross,  and  baptized  no  less  than  ten  thousand  persons  at 
Canterbury  on  Christmas-<^Iay. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  this  century,  in  the  year 
553,  that  the  fifth  General  Council  was  celebrated  at 
Constantinople,  It  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  bishops,  who  condemned  certain  writings  in  favour 
of  Nestorianism,  called  The  Three  Chapters  :  together 
with  the  errors  of  Origen  and  his  followers. 

St.  Fulgentius,  bishop  of  Ruspa,  in  the  district  of  Tunis, 
was  one  of  the  principal  Ecclesiastical  writers,  who  flou- 
rished in  this  century.  He  was  born  at  Carthage,  about 
thirty  years  after  the  Barbarians  had  dismembered  Africa 
from  the  Roman  Empii-e.  In  the  twenty-second  year  of 
his  age  he  embraced  a  monastic  life,  on  having  read  a 
sermon  of  St.  Augustine  on  the  vanity  of  the  world  and 
the  short  duration  of  human  life. 

WhenTheodoric,  king  of  Italy,  made  his  first  entry  into 
Rome,  towards  the  latter  part  of  the  year  500,  Fulgentius, 
who  came  to  offer  up  his  prayers  at  the  tomb  of  the  Apos- 
tles, seeing  him  seated  on  an  exalted  throne,  adorned 
with  pompous  state,  surrounded  by  the  senate  and  his 
courtiers,  with  all  the  grandeur  of  the  city  displayed  in 
the  greatest  magnificence,  cried  out  and  said,  *'  Ah,  how 
**  beautiful  must  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  be,  if  earthly 
''  Rome  be  so  glorious  !  What  honour,  glory,  and  joy 
^'  will  God  bestow  on  the  saints  in  heaven,  since  here  in  this 

^*'  perishable  life  he  clothes  with  such  splendour  the  lov- 
"  ers  and  admirers  of  vanity!"  In  a  short  time  after, 
having  returned  home,  he  built  a  spacious  monastery  in 
Byzacena,  out  of  which  he  was  forcibly  taken,  and  con- 
|l  secrated  bishop,  in  the  year  508.  Whilst  he  was  zeal- 
ously discharging  his  episcopal  duties,  orders  were  issued 
by  King  Trasamund  for  his  banishment  into  Sardinia, 
with  sixty  other  orthodox  bishops.     He  wrote  an  amole 

S 


206  HISTORY   6T   THE 

confutation  of  Arianism,  under  the  title  of  his  TJitte  Beaks 
to  King  Trasamund  ;  with  another  book,  entitled  An  An- 
swer to  Ten  Objections.     His  talents  for  preaching  were 
singular.     His  sermons  and  h»>milies  are  usually    short, 
but  very  pathetic:  w«  have  near   a  hundred  still  extant 
that  bear  his  name.     His  letters  are  remarkably  pious  and 
instructive.  ^  His    other    works    are    chiefly    polemical 
against  the  Arians,  Pelagians,  and  Nestorians.     After  the 
doath  of  Trasamund  he  returned  to  his  flock,  and  was  re- 
ceived with  the  greatest  demonstrations  of  joy.     He  al- 
ways proposed  to  himself  St.  Augustine  for  a  model,  and, 
as  a  true  disciple,  he  imitated  him  in  his  conduct,  faith- 
fully expounding  his  doctrine  and  imbibing  his  spirit.     In 
his  book  Oft  Faith  to  Peter ^  he  explains  the  chief  mysteries 
of  faith)   especially  the  Trinity,  Incarnation,  sacrifice  of 
the  Altar,  absolute  necessity  of  the  true  Faith,  sincere 
Repentance,  and  of  living  in  the  pale  of  the  true  Church. 
Many  other  illustrious  saints  and  apostolic  men  flourished 
in   this  age,   particularly  St.   Ennodius,   the   learned  bi- 
shop of  Pavia  ;  St.  Gregory,  bishop  of  Tours,  eminent  both 
for  his  piety  and  voluminous  writings  ;  St.  Leander,  bishop 
of  Seville  ;  St.  Maxentius,  abbot  of  Poitou  ;  St.  Aurelius, 
archljishop  of  Aries  ;  St.  Benedict,  patriarch  of  the  West- 
ern Monks  ;  St.  Germanus,  bishop  of  Paris ;  St.  Eulo- 
gius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople  ;  St.  John,  distinguished 
by  the  appellation  of  Climacus,  from  his  excellent  book 
entitled  Climax^  or  the  ladder  to  perfection ;  St.  Simon 
Stylites  the  Younger,  whose  sanctity  God  was  pleased  to 
manifest  by  a  great  number  of  miracles,  to  many  of  which 
Evagrius  Scholasticus,  the  historian,  declares  he  was   an 
eye-witness ;  St.  Eugenius,  the  renowned  bishop  of  Car- 
thage ;  St.  Sabbas,  abbot ;  St.  Gildas  ;  St.  Dacius,  bishop 
of  Milan  ;  St.  Aritus,  bishop  of  Vienne  in  Gaul ;  St.  Se- 
verinus,  abbot  of  Agaunum  ;  St.  Anastasius,  patriarch  of 
Antioch,  and  a  prelate  of  singular  learning  and  piety,  who 
vigorously    opposed   the    heresy    of    the    Incorrupticolcey 
which  the  Emperor  Justmian  maintained  in  his  dotage, 
declaring,  by  an  edict,  that  Christ's  body  during  his  mor- 
tal state,  was  never  liable  to  any  alteration,  or  even  na- 
tural passion,  such  as  hunger,  thirst,  or  pain.     Anastasius 
wrote  upon   that  subject  with  propriety,  elegance,  and 
choice  of  sentiments      Theodorus  of  Heraclea,  Venan- 
tius,  Fortunatus,  Leontius,    Prasilius   Cilix,    Facundus, 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST,  20^ 

Primasius,  and  Ephaemius  of  Antioch,  were  in  high  repu- 
tation in  this  age.  Dionysius  Exiguus,  an  abbot  in  Rome, 
is  also  highly  commended  for  his  learning  and  piety,  by 
Cassiodorus,  his  contemporary.  In  his  Paschal  Cijcle  he 
first  began  to  date  the  year  from  the  birth  of  Christ, 
which  epoch,  called  the  Christian ^^r a,  was  every  where 
introduced,  soon  after  the  extinction  of  the  Consulates, 
from  which  the  dates  had  been  usually  taken  before. 

Venerable  Bede  informs  us,  that  in  the  year  565  Bri- 
dius,  the  powerful  King  o£  the  Northern  Picts,  was  con- 
verted from  Idolatry  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  by  the  preach- 
ing, virtues,  and  miracles  of  St.  Columb,  one  of  the  great- 
est patriarchs  of  the  monastic  order  in  Ireland.  This 
illustrious  saint  was  surnamed  Columkille,  from  the  great 
number  of  monastic  cells,  called  Kills,  which  he  had 
founded  in  Ireland,  before  he  passed  with  his  disciples  from 
his  native  country. into  Scotland,  and  became  the  Apostle 
of  the  Northern  Britons  and  Highlanders. 

Ireland,  which  had  been  converted  by  St.  Patrick  in  the 
fifth  century  from  Heathenism  to  Christianity,  abounded 
through  the  three  succeeding  ages  with  so  many  saints, 
eminent  both  for  their  piety  and  learning,  that  it  was 
styled  the  Island  of  Saints.  Camden  testifies  that  the 
English  Saxons  flocked  then  to  Ireland,  as  to  the  mart  of 
sacred  literature  ;  which  was  owing  to  the  labours  and 
apostolic  lives  of  the  native  ecclesiastics,  who  were  never 
known  to  abuse  the  great  immunities  and  secular  endow- 
ments conferred  on  them  by  the  Irish  Princes.  The 
learned  Prideaux  says,  Ireland  was  celebrated  for  three 
hundred  years  after  its  conversion,  as  the  emporium  and 
prime  seat  of  sacred  learning  in  Christendom.  It  was  filled 
with  saints  ;  and  the  reputation  of  its  schools  was  so  re- 
nowned, that  students  resorted  to  it  from  Britain,  and 
many  parts  of  the  continent,  for  their  cultivation,  and 
professors  have  been  invited  from  hence  by  foreiga 
princes  to  establish  seminaries  in  their  dominions.  Mari- 
anus  Scotus  says,  in  his  Chronicle,  that  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tuiy,  two  Irishmen  gave  birth  to,  and  laid  the  foundation 
of,  the  two  first  universities  in  the  world,  namely,  that  of 
Paris  and  Pavia.  From  hence  several  apostolic  men  have 
gone  with  zeal  to  illuminate  and  convert  heathens  in  South 
and  North  Britain,  in  Germany,  in  the  Netherlands,  in 
Burgundy,  in  France,  &c.     The  fervour  with  which  the 


208  HISTORY  OP  THE 

Irish  first  embraced  the  faith,  did  not  abate  for  many 
ages.  They  established  numerous  congregations  of  reli- 
gious men,  eminent  in  all  virtues.  They  founded  cities 
in  the  midst  of  deserts,  which  they  cleared  and  cultivated 
with  their  own  hands.  They  erected  monasteries  in  all 
parts  of  the  island,  which  were  so  many  nurseries  of  piety, 
where  the  Christian  youth  was  instructed  in  the  science 
of  the  saints,  and  in  the  literature  that  leads  to  it.  The 
most  numerous  and  most  celebrated  of  these  monasteries 
was  that  of  Benchor  or  Bangor^  in  the  county  of  Down, 
founded  about  the  year  550,  by  St.  Congal,  under  whose 
direction  a  great  number  of  fervent  servants  of  God  seem- 
ed to  lead  an  angelic  life  in  mortal  flesh,  employed  in  tillage 
or  other  manual  labours,  at  the  hours  that  could  be  spared 
from  the  duties  of  prayer,  heavenly  contemplation,  and 
their  sacred  studies.  It  is  said,  that  three  thousand  monks 
lived  sometimes  together  in  this  abbey^  before  it  was  de- 
stroyed by  Danish  pirates,  who  massacred  here  nine  hun- 
dred of  them  in  one  day.  The  buildings  lay  in  ruins,  till 
they  were  repaired,  in  the  twelfth  century,  by  the  care  of 
St.  Malachy,  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  who  rendered 
Benchor  a  flourishing  seminary  of  learning  and  piety,  though 
not  so  numerous  as  it  had  formerly  been.  The  monastic 
institute  received  great  lustre  from  the  eminent  sanctity 
and  profound  learning  of  St.  Gallus,  and  St.  Columban, 
the  disciple  of  St.  Congal. 

St.  Gallus  was  born  soon  after  the  middle  of  the  sixth 
century,  and  educated  in  the  great  monastery  of  Benchor. 
By  his  preaching,  example,  and  miracles,  he  converted  a 
great  number  of  Idolaters,  near  the  lake  of  Constance,, 
tind  is  justly  regarded  as  the  Apostle  of  that  territory. 
Mabillon  places  his  death  on  the  10th  of  October,  646. 

St.  Columban  was  a  native  of  Leinster,  one  of  the  four 
provinces  of  Ireland.  He  passed  into  Britain,  and  thence 
into  Gaul,  with  twelve  other  monks,  about  the  year  585. 
He  preached  with  wonderful  success  in  all  places  through 
which  he  travelled,  and  the  sanctity  of  his  hfe  added  great 
weight  to  his  instructions.  His  reputation  reached  the 
Court  of  Burgundy,  under  whose  protection  he  erected 
different  monasteries  in  Lorrain.  Going  afterwards,  with 
some  of  his  disciples,  into  Switzerland,  he  preached  the 
Gospel  to  the  infidels  near  the  lakes  of  Zurich  and  Con- 
jii,tance.    Thence  he  passed  into  Italy,  where,  meetin«;  a 


CtfURCII    OF    CHRIST.  209* 

kind  r^ception  from  Agiluph,  King  of  the  Lombards,  he 
built  the  famous  monastery  of  Bobio,  in  a  desert,  amidst 
the  Apennine  Mountains.  The  affair  o£  the  Three  Chap- 
ters (writings  which  were  condemned  in  the  East  by  the 
fifth  Council  at  Constantinople,  and  by  Pope  Vigilius,  as 
favouring  Nestorianism)  made  at  that  time  a  jcreat  noise  in 
Italy.  Several  among  the  Lombards  harboured  mistaken 
prejudices  in  favour  of  the  Three  Chapters ^  and  erroneous- 
ly imagined,  that  by  their  condemnation  the  Council  of 
Chalcedon  was  condemned.  These  and  many  other  mis- 
takes, about  the  transactions  of  the  Orientals,  and  con- 
cerning facts  that  passed  at  so  great  a  distance,  might 
Ihappen  very  easily,  as  the  greatest  part  of  the  Westerns, 
for  want  of  commerce,  and  through  their  ignorance  of 
the  Greek  tongue,  were  strangers  to  the  atfairs  of  the 
East,  except  what  they  learned  by  vague,  and  often  false 
reports.  St.  Columban  coming  into  Lombardy,  and  being 
there  informed  about  the  debate  ofthe  Three  Chapters  yWrote 
a  strong  letter  to  Pope  Boniface  IV.  in  defence  of  them,  at 
the  solicitation  of  King  Agiluph  and  Queen  Theodolinda, 
his  patrons,  and  persons  of  singular  zeal  and  piety.  From 
this  letter  it  is  evident,  as  Dr.  Cave  observes,  that  St. 
Columban  was  not  nghtly  informed  in  the  affair  of  the 
Three  Chapters,  and  that  he  never  joined  the  schismatics 
in  Istria,  but  continued  always  inviolably  attached  to  the 
communion  of  the  Roman  see.     Riv€t  shows,  from  this 

-very  letter,  that  he  then  conformed  to  the  Nicene  Decree 

'^concerning  the  celebration  of  Easter,  though  he  had  ap- 
plied twice  to  St.  Gregory  for  leave  to  observe  the  custom 
he  had  learned  in  Ireland.  Sixteen  discourses  which  he 
had  made  to  his  monks,,  are  published  in  the  library  of 
the  Fathers.     Speaking  therein  of  the  contempt  of  the 

Svorld,  he  cries  out,  "  O  transitory  life,  how  many  hast 
^'  thou  deceived,  seduced,  and  blinded  !  If  I  consider  the 
"  rapidity  of  thy  flight,  thou  seemest  nothing:  thy  exist- 

^"  ence  is  httle  more  than  a  shadow.  They  who  set  their 
^' hearts  on  thee,  know  thee  not:  they  Only  understand 
*'  thee,  who  despise  thy  enjoyments.  When  thou  showest 
"  thyself,  thou  art  again  withdrawn,  as  if  thou  wert  no 
*'more  than  a  phantom.  What  art  thou  but  a  swift 
*'  course  on  a  road,  passing  as  a  bird  on  the  wing,  uncertain 
"  as  a  cloud,  frail  as  a  vapour,  vanishing  as  a  shadow  !" — 
Among  the  works  of  St.  Columban,  nothing  is  so  much 
S  3 


SdiO  mSTdRY  dp  THE 

admired  as  his  JRuhj  which  is  full  of  wisdom,  attective 
piety,  and  spiritual  unction.  He  died  on  the  21st  of  No- 
vember, 615. 

St.  Coemgen,  alias  Kevin,  was  born  in  498.  He  founded 
the  famous  abbey  of  Glendaloch,  in  the  county  of  Wick- 
low,  about  twenty-three  miles  from  Dublin.  Being  raised 
to  the  episcopal  dignity,  he  erected  a  cathedral  church 
near  the  church  of  the  abbey,  which  was  -situated  about 
the  middle  of  a  long  valley,  surrounded  with  very  high 
mountains,  from  whence  the  water  falls  over  several  crag- 
gy rocks,  and  feeds  two  lakes,  or  rivers,  that  run  through 
the  lower  part  of  the  valley  below ;  hence  it  took  the 
name  of  Glendaloch,  which  signifies  the  Glen  or  Valley  of 
the  two  Lakes.  The  walls  of  seven  or  eight  buildings,  now 
called  the  seven  Churches,  are  still  standing  to  this  day, 
with  the  ruins  of  St.  Kevin's  cell,  and  manv  other  curious 
pieces  of  ancient  architecture.  St  Kevin  died  on  the  3d 
of  June,  618,  in. the "  120th  year  of  his  age.  The  episcopal 
see  of  Glendaloch  was  united  to  the  diocese  of  Dublin,  in 
1214. 

St.  Fintan,  abbot  ;  St.  Kenny ;  St.  Colman  ;  St.  Catal- 
dus,  regent  of  the  great  school  of  Lismore,  and  afterwards 
bishop  of  Tarentum  in  Italy,  with  many  other  illustrious 
Irish  saints,  adorned  the  Church  about  this  time  with  the 
splendour  of  their  eminent  virtues  and  learning.  Thus 
God  was  pleased  to  new  kindle  lights  in  the  extremity  of 
the  West,  at  a  period  when  the  Roman  Empire  was  torn 
to  pieces,  and  when  an  inundation  of  Pagan  nations  seized 
on  the  greater  part  of  Europe.  In  that  state  Providence, 
ever  watchful  over  the  Church,  erected  an  asylum  in  this 
remote  island  for  its  repose  and  extension.  Ireland,  how- 
ever, in  the  ninth  century  began  to  feel  the  grievances 
which  followed  the  invasion  of  the  sanctuary  in  other  coun- 
tries. It  was  infested  in  its  turn  by  successive  swarms  of 
Heathen  barbarians,  who,  under  the  general  name  of  Nm^- 
mans,  ravaged  at  the  same  time  the  maritime  districts  of 
France,  England,  and  Scotland,  and  nothing  sacred  escaped 
their  depredations  wherever  their  power  prevailed.  They 
massacred  the  ecclesiastics,  demolished  the  monasteries, 
laid  waste  the  seats  of  learning,  and  committed  their  libra- 
ries to  the  flames.  In  these  times  of  confusion  the  civil.- 
power  was  weakened,  the  national  assemblies  seldom  con- 
vened, a  great  relaxation  of  piety  and  morals  gradually 


CHURCH   OF    CHRIST.  211 

look  place,  and  factions  among  the  governors  of  provinces 
ended  in  the  dissolution  of  the  Irish  n}onarchj. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  demolition  of  old  Pagan  Rome,  and  the  me  of  new 
Christian  Home  from  its  ashes. 

The  Roman  Empire,  like  iill  other  human  structures, 
was  built  upon  a  perishable  foundation.  It  had  its  rise 
and  its  decline.  In  its  first  ages  it  supported  itself  with 
wisdom  and  moderation,  until  it  reached' the  maturity  of 
perfection,  and  extended  its  dominion  most  amazingly  ; 
but  in  the  latter  part  of  its  period,  it»  constitution  being 
grown  old,  it  tended  to  a  decay  from  its  own  infirmities 
and  disorders.  The  Prophet  Daniel  had,  long  before  its 
existence,  described  its  nature  :  Pie  compares  it  first  to 
iron,  c.  !2,  y.  20,  &lc.  for  as  iron  is  the  strongest  of  metals, 
so  the  Roman  state  was  to  perform  greater  achievements 
than  any  other  of  the  preceding  empires,  and  was  to  sub- 
due them  all.  Then  he  compares  it  to  iron  mixed  with 
clay,  which  mixture  exhibits  its  subsequent  dechne,  clay 
denoting  weakness  and  want  of  solidity.  During  the  time 
of  its  consuls  and  first  emperors  it  lorded  over  the  world, 
but  its  monarchy  dropped  afterwards  into  pieces,  and 
mouldered  away  in  the  hands  of  Northern  invaders.  The 
military  grew  licentious,  the  patricians  effeminate,  the 
plebeians  mutinous,  the  emperors  became  debauched,  dis- 
sipated, and  cruel  persecutors  of  the  Christian  Religion. 
The  whole  earth  was  ransacked  to  supply  their  extrava- 
gance, intemperance,  and  profusion,  and  to  furnish  their 
tables  with  the  most  dehcious  and  expensive  dainties. 
Seneca  tells  us,  that  Caius  Caligula  once  spent  for  a  sup- 
per one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  crowns.  Suetonius 
informs  us,  that  Vitellius  would  feast  himself  three  or  four 
times  a  day,  spending  ten  thousand  crowns  at  each  meal. 
He  had  at  his  table  dishes  made  up  of  the  brains  of  phea- 
sants and  peacocks,  others  of  the  tongues  and  livers  of 
rare  birds,  others  of  the  milts  of  some  particular  fish 
brought  from  distant  regions.  Nero,  in  particular,  had  an 
extravagant  passion  to  rebuild  Rome  in  a  more  sumptuous 


212  HtSTORY   OF   THJE 

manner,  and  extend  it  as  far  as  Ostia  to  the  sea.  Sdeto* 
nius,  Dion  Cassius,Tillemont,  Crevier,  and  other  judicious 
writers,  charge  him  with  being  the  author  of  the  dreadful 
conflagration  that  happened  in  the  year  64,  and  raged  for 
nine  days  with  such  violence,  that  out  of  the  fourteen  re- 
gions, or  quarters,  into  which  Rome  was  then  divided, 
three  were  entirely  laid  in  ashes,  seven  were  miserably 
defaced,  and  only  four  entirely  escaped  the  disaster.  All 
the  buildings  being  burnt  and  thrown  down,  from  the 
Great  Circus  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Palatine,  to  the  further 
end  of  the  Esquiliae,  the  cruel  tyrant  gained  the  space  he 
wanted  to  enlarge  his  own  palace.  Accordingry,  he  re- 
built a  palace  of  immense  extent,  and  adorned  it  all  over 
with  gold,  mother  of  pearl,  precious  stones,  and  whatever 
the  world  afforded  that  was  rich  and  curious,  so  that  it 
was  called  the  Golden  Palace  of  Nero.  Tertullian  observes, 
that  it  redounded  to  the  honour  of  the  Christian  Religion 
that  Nero,  the  most  avowed  enemy  to  all  virtue,  was  the 
first  Roman  emperor  who  declared  against  it  in  a  bloody 
manner.  To  exculpate  himself,  he  charged  the  Christians 
with  having  set  fire  to  Rome,  though,  as  Tacitus  testifies, 
nobody  believed  them  guilty.  Tacitus  adds,  that  Nero 
inflicted  the  most  cruel  torments  on  them,  and  made  a 
sport  of  their  punishment,  diverting  the  people  with  cha- 
riot races  in  his  own  gardens,  whilst  the  innocent  victims 
were  devoured  by  dogs,  or,  besmeared  over  with  pitch 
and  brimstone,  were  hung  on  crosses  set  in  rows,  and 
were  burnt  alive  in  the  night,  by  way  of  torches.  This 
horrid  scene  was  only  a  prelude  to  the  subsequent  inhu- 
man edicts  and  violent  persecutions  by  which  this  tyrant, 
and  many  of  the  succeeding  emperors,  deluged  the  Roman 
Empire  with  Christian  blood.  They  bent  their  whole 
power  to  the  supporting  of  idolatry,  and  to  the  suppress- 
ing of  the  establishment  of  Christianity.  Rome,  the  capi- 
tal of  their  Empire,  and  proud  mistress  of  the  world,  was 
then  the  principal  seat  of  Paganism,  and  the  very  centre 
and  bulwark  of  superstition.  It  was  the  greatest  enemy 
of  Christ,  and  the  chief  instrument  of  Satan  in  opposing 
the  progress  of  the  Gospel.  It  had  provoked  the  indigna- 
tion of  Heaven,  by  glutting  itself  with  the  innocent  blood 
of  the  saints  and  servants  of  God.  It  had  carried  its  su- 
perstition so  far,  as  even  to  deify  its  impious  emperors,  to 
build  temples  to  their  memories,  to  raise  statues,  and  ofier 


CftlURCH   OF    CHRISf.  213 

incense  to  them.  It  had  adopted  all  the  heathenish  gods 
of  the  countries  it  had  subdued  ;  and,  lest  any  unknown 
god  should  not  receive  due  worship,  it  had  built  a  temple 
dedicated  to  all  the  deities  of  Paganism,  and  called  the 
Pcmtheoiij  besides  402  other  heathenish  temples,  which 
histoi-ians  relate  to  have  been  erected  in  that  city  for  simi- 
lar purposes.  Old  Pagan  Rome,  therefore,  became  a  vic- 
tim of  God's  anger,  and  was  justly  doomed  to  drink  the 
full  cup  of  his  wrath,  even  in  the  most  conspicuous  man- 
ner. He  had  formerly  sent  Nabuchodonozor  as  a  scourge 
to  execute  his  avenging  justice  against  Jerusalem,  and 
Cyrus  to  destroy  Babylon ;  so,  in  like  manner,  he  sent 
the  instruments  of  his  wrath,  and  executers  of  his  justice, 
to  destroy  the  great  imperial  city  of  Pagan  Rome,  which 
in  the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John,  is  styled  I^abilon^  on  ac- 
count of  the  resemblance  between  it  and  ancient  Babylon, 
as  to  the  extent  of  its  walls,  and  the  excess  of  its  haugh- 
tiness and  cruelty  in  shedding  the  blood  of  the  holy  mar- 
tyrs. It  is  of  it  we  are  to  understand  the  following  pas- 
sage, Apoc.  c.  17.  Depart  mij  people  from  Babylonyili2d  is y 
from  Pagan  Rome,  which  God  was  delivering  up  to  plun- 
der, in  punishment  of  its  idolatry  and  other  crying  sins. 
In  the  year  410,  Alaric  took  Rome,  plundered  it  for 
three  days,  and  burned  it ;  verifying  the  prophecy  of 
Daniel,  c.  7.  v,  11.  where,  speaking  of  the  fourth  beast 
that  represented  Rome  with  its  empire,  he  says,  /  sato 
that  the  beast  ivas  slain,  and  that  Us  body  u'as  dest^'vyedy  and 
^iven  to  thejire  to  be  burned.  The  greatest  part  of  the  pub- 
lic edifices,  magnificent  temples,  and  theatres,  triumphal 
arches,  Egyptian  obehsks,  and  the  so  much  admired  baths, 
were  then  destroyed.  The  august  palace  of  the  emperors, 
with  all  their  rich  furniture,  shining  ornaments,  ostenta- 
tious pageantry,  and  pompous  trains  of  equipage  were 
consumed  by  flames,  and  buried  in  their  own  ashes.  The 
country  all  around,  which  was  filled  with  towns  and  num- 
berless inhabitants,  whilst  Rome  maintained  her  power, 
{was  laid  waste  ;  the  lands  of  Campania  Rom  ana  were  re- 
duced to  a  desolate  desert ;  swarms  of  insects  ruined  the 
produce  and  fruits  of  the  earth  ;  the  towns  were  razed  to 
the  ground  ;  the  sea  overswelled  its  boundaries,  and  swal- 
lowed up  whole  multitudes  ;  earthquakes  overthrew  seve- 
ral places,  and  destroyed  thousands,  and  many  who  sur- 
vived these  disasters  were  brought  to  such  extremities  oA* 


214  ^  k^>HISTORY  OP  TH^ 


-m 


distress,  that  they  had  not  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  were 
glad  to  feed  on  the  most  filthy  things.  The  Pagans,  6u 
seeing  Rome  and  its  empire  scourged  with  so  many  visible 
judgments,  renewed  their  blasphemies  against  the  Chris- 
tian Religion,  and  pretended  that  all  the  calamities  that 
Lad  fallen  on  their  state,  were  punishments  inflicted  on 
them  by  their  gods,  for  having  permitted  the  growth  of 
Christianity.  To  answer  and  refute  their  slanders,  St, 
Augustine  began  his  great  work  of  The  City  of  God^ 
which  he  finished  in  the  year  426.  St.  Cyprian  also  wrote 
a  letter  to  Demetrianus,  a  magistrate  of  Carthage,  to 
show  that  Pagan  Rome  and  its  empire  had  drawn  down 
the  indignation  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  empires,  by  shed- 
ding the  innocent  blood  of  the  Saints,  and  that  the  evils 
that  befel  their  state  were  real  punishments,  sent  from 
the  True  God  of  Heaven  and  Earth  for  their  cruel  perse- 
cutions of  the  Christians. 

The  wrath  of  Heaven  was  not  yet  appeased,  nor  was 
the  Divine  Justice  fully  satisfied  ;  for  in  the  year  455, 
Rome  was  delivered  again  into  the  hands  of  Genseric, 
King  of  the  Vandals,  who  plundered  it  for  the  space  of 
fourteen  days  together,  and  having  set  fire  to  it,  returned 
with  his  army  into  Africa,  carrying  off  an  immense  booty. 
Among  other,  rich  spoils,  he  carried  away  the  gold  and 
Corinthian  brass,  with  which  the  Capitol  was  inlaid,  and 
the  sacred  vessels  of  the  Jewish  Temple,  which  the  em- 
peror Titus  had  brought  from  Jerusalem  to  Rome.  Again, 
in  the  year  476,  Odoacer,  having  defeated  Orestes,  and 
pillaged  Pavia,  advanced  to  Rome,  extinguished  its  impe- 
rial title  and  dignity,  trampled  its  authority  under  foot, 
and  parcelled  out,  among  a  set  of  barbarians,  such  mor- 
sels of  the  Roman  provinces  as  they  relished  most.  Odoa- 
cer being  treacherously  murdered  in  the  year  493,  Theo- 
doric,  King  of  the  Ostrogoths,  who  settled  in  Italy,  pro- 
claimed himself  King  of  all  Italy,  and  having  rebuilt  the 
walls  of  Rome,  fixed  his  residence  at  Verona.  From  that 
time  Italy  remained  under  the  power  of  the  Goths,  till 
Belisarius  and  Narses,  two  experienced  generals  in  the 
armies  of  Justinian  the  Great,  having  reduced  the  Gothic 
power  to  a  low  ebb,  subdued  a  considerable  part  of  their 
kingdom,  and  united  Rome  to  the  dominions  of  the  Greek 
Emperors,  who  governed  it  by  an  exarch  residing  at  Ra- 
yenna.     Thus  this  unhappy  city,  which  had  been  the  ad- 


CHURCH   OP    CHRIST.  2T5 

miration  of  all  nations,  and  the  queen  of  the  world,  was 
struck  down  from  the  pinnacle  of  power,  tossed  from  hand 
to  hand,  and  became  a  member  of  that  empire,  of  which 
she  had  formerly  been  the  head.  However  Totila,  being 
chosen  king  of  the  Goths,  found  means  to  retrieve  the 
declining  state  of  their  affairs,  and*  to  re-establish  a  flou- 
rishing kingdom  in  Italy.  The  arm  of  God  being  still  hfted 
up  against  old  idolatrous  Rome,  ready  to  strike  another 
blow,  and  to  pour  down  a  whole  torrent  of  wrath  upon 
her  at  once,  Totila  invested  this  unfortunate  city,  at  the 
head  of  a  numerous  army,  in  the  year  546.  He  blocked 
it  up  so  closely,  that  it  could  receive  no  provisions,  which 
occasioned  a  raging  famine.  At  length,  by  the  treachery 
of  the  centinels  posted  at  one  of  the  gates,  Totila  being 
admitted  in  the  night,  gave  up  the  city  to  the  pillage  of 
his  soldiers,  who  spent  several  days  in  plundering  the  in- 
habitants. Shocking  were  the  barbarities  committed  by 
them  :  the  walls  and  fortresses  were  thrown  down ;  the 
public  monuments  were  demolished.  Rome,  in  fine,  was 
burnt,  buried  in  its  own  ashes,  and  reduced  into  a  solitude. 
''  Totila,"  says  the  historian  Procopius,  1.  3.  "  carried 
"  away  with  him  all  the  inhabitants,  without  leaving  one 
^'  human  creature  there,  and  in  this  condition  the  city  re- 
"  mained  desert  for  above  forty  days." 

Thus  was  completed  the  final  destruction  of  ancient 
Rome.  Thus  have  been  accomplished  the  predictions  of 
St.  John  in  the  Apocalypse,  respecting  the  downfall  of 
the  idolatrous  empire  of  Babylon  the  Great,  and  of  the- 
"  Harlot  who  is  said  to  be  clothed  with  purple  and  scar- 
"  let,  with  gold,  and  precious  stones  and  pearls,  and  to  be 
*'  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints  and  of  the  martyrs 
"  of  Jesus,"  to  denote  the  purple  robes  and  pompous 
display  of  the  Roman  Emperors,  and  the  abominations  of 
idolatry  with  which  imperial  Rome  was  polluted,  and  the 
blood  of  the  Christian  martyrs,  with  which  she  was  stain- 
ed. Thus  in  short  has  been  verified  the  prophecy  of 
» Daniel,  c.  2.  v.  34.  and  35.  relative  to  "  the  stone  cut  out 
'*"  of  the  mountain  without  hands,  which  struck  the  statua 
"  upon  the  feet  and  broke  them  to  pieces,  and  became  a 
**  great  mountain,  and  filled  the  whole  earth  ;"  for  it  is 
evident  that  by  this  stone  is  meant  Christ  our  Lord,  who 
overcame  the  mighty  Empire  of  Rome,  and  threw  down 
the  great  Colossus  of  pagan  superstition  and  fortress  of 


216  HISTORY   OF  THE 

idolatry.  He  is  the  Lion  of  the  Tribe  cfJuda,  who  crushed 
the  many  headed  Hydra  of  Paganism,  and  overturned  the 
throne  which  the  powers  of  darkness  had  occupied  so 
many  ages,  in  ancient  Rome.  He  is  the  founder  and 
protector  of  his  Church,  and  the  avenger  of  the  injuries 
done  to  her.  All  other  kingdoms  are  to  have  an  end,  but 
the  spiritual  kingdom  of  his  Church,  being  a  work  of  di- 
vine construction,  shall  last  for  ever.  All  other  kingdoms 
and  empires  are  to  give  way  to  it.  "  All  nations,  all  peo- 
*'  pie,  tribes,  and  tongues,  shall  flock  to  it  from  the  ex- 
"  tremities  of  the  earth,  and  to  the  end  of  the  world." 
The  heavy  pressures  the  members  of  his  Church  laboured 
under  in  the  reign  of  the  Pagan  Emperors  of  Rome,  served 
but  to  purify  them  like  gold  in  a  furnace,  and  to  make 
her  rise  up  from  the  fire  of  persecution  more  bright  and 
more  vigorous.  His  disciples  have  always  increased  in 
number  and  strength,  the  more  they  were  oppressed,  as 
the  Jews  in  Egypt  had  done  under  Pharaoh.  The  very 
barbarians,  who  have  concurred  in  the  subversion  of  Pa- 
gan Rome,  helped  to  fill  the  Church  of  Christ  both  in 
the  East  and  West,  as  if  the  Providence  of  God,  who  is 
master  of  the  human  mind,  and  who  can  call  to  the  or- 
thodox faith  whom  he  pleases,  had  permitted  their  irrup- 
tions into  the  Roman  provinces  with  a  view  to  efllect  their 
happy  conversion,  as  Orosius  remarks.  In  effect,  they 
gradually  renounced  their  superstitious  errors,  and  from 
Pagans  became  civilized  Christians,  obedient  to  the  laws 
of  the  Gospel.  From  the  very  ashes  of  old  idolatrous 
Rome,  emerged  and  rose  up  Hke  a  phoenix,  a  new  Chris- 
tian Rome,  privileged  with  the  dignity  of  being  an  holy 
Christian  city,  and  the  head  and  source  of  spiritual  juris- 
diction. She  has  not,  indeed,  recovered  her  former  tempo- 
ral domir.ion,  splendour,  and  riches,  but  she  has  extended 
her  spiritual  conquests,  even  amidst  civil  depression,  to 
regions  which  her  arms  never  subdued,  and  has  derived 
from  the  rays  of  the  Gospel,  the  splendour  of  being  the 
centre  of  unity  in  divine  worship  and  religion,  and  the 
residence  of  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ.  She  has  defeated 
the  assaults  of  Satan,  in  the  very  place  where  he  had 
erected  his  throne.  She  has  ascended  the  throne  of  the 
persecuting  tyrants,  trampled  upon  idolatry,  and  triumph- 
ed over  all  the  false  deities  of  the  Heathens  in  their  own 
principal  temple,  the  Pantheon,  which  was  converted  into 


CllUIiClI    UF    CHRIST.  217 

4' 

a  Christian  Church,  by  Boniface  IV.  and  dedicated  to  the 
worship  of  the  true  God,  in  the  year  607.  This  curious 
monument  of  ancient  magnificence  is  still  extant.  It  is  a 
master-piece  of  architecture,  has  neither  pillar  nor  window, 
but  one  large  round  aperture  in  the  middle  at  the  top, 
which  lets  in  the  light,  and  underneath  in  the  middle  of  the 
floor  an  orifice  of  a  sink,  covered  with  a  concave  brass 
plate,  bored  with  many  holes,  to  receive  the  rain  that  may 
happen  to  fall  in  through  the  aperture  at  the  top.  This 
amazing  edifice  is  a  perfect  hemisphere  or  half  globe,  its 
height  being  almost  equal  to  its  breadth.  The  diameter 
is  158  feet.  The  porch  is  majestic,  though  somewhat 
lower  than  the  square  where  it  stands.  It  is  supported  by 
a  beautiful  colonnade  of  sixteen  grand  pillars  of  Oriental 
granite,  and  was  formerly  covered  with  gilt  bronze.  The 
niches  were  likewise  decorated  with  several  elegant 
bronze  statues  of  Augustus,  M.  Agrippa,  Mars,  and  other 
Pagan  deities,  which  Genseric  is  said  to  have  carried  away 
with  him  into  Africa. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Church  of  the  Seventh  Centm^y. 

THE  apostolic  see  was  filled  in  this  age  by  Sabinian, 
the  immediate  successor  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great.  Sa- 
binian dying  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  pontificate,  was 
succeeded  by  Boniface  III.  who  sat  eight  months,  twenty- 
three  days,  and  died  in  the  year  607.  Upon  his  demise, 
Boniface  IV.  was  chosen  and  sat  till  the  year  6 1 5.  Deus- 
dedit,  a  man  of  eminent  sanctity,  was  raised  then  to  the 
pontifical  chair,  which  he  held  till  November,  618.  After 
him,  Boniface  V.  was  elected,  and  governed  the  Church 
almost  six  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  Honorius  I.  who, 
after  a  government  of  thirteen  years,  departed  this  life  on 
the  12th  of  October,  638.  His  successor,  Severinus,  died 
on  the  1st  of  August,  640.  John  IV., being  chosen  after 
hira,  died  on  the  twenty-first  month  of  his  pontificate. 
Theodorus  I.  was  then  placed  in  the  pontifical  chair,  and 
held  it  till  the  20th  of  April,  649.  St.  Martin  succeeded 
Theodorus  in  the  apostolic  see,  and,  after  suffering  all 


218  HISTORY    OF    THE 

kind  of  injuries  with  the  most  heroic  fortitude,  died  in 
exile  on  the  21st  of  September,  655.  St.  Engenius  I. 
was  then  elected,  and  filled  the  pontifical  see  near  two 
years.  His  successor,  St.  Vitahanus,  sat  upwards  of  four- 
teen years.  On  his  demise,  in  the  year  672,  Adeodatus 
was  raised  to  the  pontificate,  and  held  it  till  the  26th  of 
June,  676.  His  successor,  Donus,  or  Domnus  I.  died  in 
the  year  678.  St.  Agatho  succeeded  him,  and  died  in 
the  year  682.  St.  Leo  II.  succeeded  Agatho,  and  depart- 
ed this  life  in  683.  After  a  vacancy  of  almost  a  year, 
St.  Benedict  II,  was  chosen,  and,  having  governed  the 
Church  ten  months,  died  on  the  7th  of  May,  685.  John 
V.  who  succeeded  him,  died  in  the  beginning  of  August, 
686.  He  was  succeeded  by  Conon  and  Sergius  I.  The 
former  died  in  the  year  687,  the  latter  on  the  7th  of  Sep- 
tember, 701.  According  to  the  discipline  of  those  times, 
the  aforesaid  pontiflls  were  chosen  by  the  clergy  and  peo- 
ple of  Rome,  and  as  the  Christian  emperors  were  the  head 
of  the  people,  their  consent  was  required,  which  often 
occasioned  long  delays,  and  considerable  vacancies  in  the 
holy  see,  till  the  return  of  the  messengers  who  were  sent 
to  the  East  where  the  emperors  resided,  to  consult  them 
upon  the  election  of  a  new  pontiff. 

The  peace  of  the  Church  was  greatly  disturbed  in  this 
age,  by  the  heresy  of  the  Monothelites,  which  was  broach- 
ed as  an  expedient  whereby  to  compomid  with  the  Euty- 
chians.  It  had  gained  admission  at  the  court,  and  tri- 
umphed on  the  imperial  throne.  It  was  chiefly  broached 
and  supported  by  Theodorus,  bishop  of  Pharan  in  Arabia; 
Cyrus,  bishop  of  Phasis  in  Colchis ;  Sergius,  bishop  of 
Constantinople,  and  by  his  successors,  Pyrrhus  and  Paul. 
It  made  great  havoc  in  some  of  the  principal  sees  of  the 
East,  whilst  it  was  powerfully  opposed  by  the  whole  Latin 
Church,  and  by  a  considerable  part  of  the  Greek  Church. 
This  heresy  was  Demi-Eutychianism,  and  was  called 
Monothelism,  because  it  admitted  but  one  will  in  Jesus 
Christ,  compounded  of  the  human  and  divine,  which  was 
called  Theandnc,  though  its  abettors  received  the  council 
of  Chalcedon,  and  acknowledged  two  natures  in  Christ, 
the  divine  and  human.  But  this  was  a  glaring  inconsis- 
tency ;  because  the  will  is  the  property  of  the  nature,  and 
Christ  being  God  and  man  at  the  same  time,  the  divine 
and  human  natures  must  have  their  respective  powers  of 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST."  Sl9 

volition.  Moreover,  Christ  sometimes  speaks  in  the  Gos- 
pel of  his  human  uill  distinct  from  the  divine,  as  in  his 
prayer  at  the  time  of  his  agony  in  the  garden.  Sergius 
had  the  artifice  to  impose  for  a  while  on^the  Pope  Hono- 
rins,  by  a  letter  full  of  craft,  dissimulation,  and  falsehood. 
He  persuaded  him,  by  captious  expressions,  to  tolerate  a 
silence  on  the  question  of  one  or  tuo  wills  in  Christ,  in 
order  to  prevent  disturbances  and  scandal  among  the 
ignorant,  who  might  be  shocked  if  the  question  of  two 
operations  was  to  be  agitated.  It  is  however  evident, 
from  the  most  authentic  monuments,  that  Honorius  never 
assented  to  the  error  of  the  Monothelites,  but  always  ad- 
hered to  the  truth,  and  held  with  St.  Leo,  and  the  Catho- 
lic Church,  the  doctrine  of  two  wills  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
that  he  only  denied  that  thei-e  were  in  Christ,  as"  in  us 
sinners,  two  wills,  contrary  and  opposite  to  one  another, 
that  of  the  flesh,  and  that  of  the  spirit,  that  is  to  say,  a 
will  of  concupiscence,  which  revolts  against  the  spirit. 
Honorius  was  undoubtedly  wrong  in  agreeing  for  some 
time  to  be  silent  on  the  article  in  question,  because  this 
indiscreet  ill-timed  silence,  though  not  so  designed,  might 
be  deemed  by  some  a  kind  of  connivance.  He  should 
have  been  more  acti^  e  in  extinguishing  the  error  in  its 
first  rise,  when  the  sparks  appeared  ;  for  a  rising  heresy 
seeks  to  carry  on  its  work  under  ground  without  noise,  it 
being  a  fire  which  gradually  spreads  itself  under  cover. 
The  emperor  Heraclius  adopted  Monothelism,  whereby 
he  tarnished  the  glory  he  had  acquired  by  his  bravery  and 
virtue.  He  began  with  commanding  silence  touching  one 
or  two  operations  in  Christ,  and  afterwards,  in  the  year 
639,  published  an  edict  called  Kcthe.ns^  or  the  Exposition, 
which  was  drawn  up  by  Sergiiis,  and  condemned  in  a 
council  at  Rome  by  John  IV.  The  imperial  edict  pub- 
lished by  his  grandson,  Constantius,  in  the  year  643,  and 
imposing  silence  in  the  point  controverted,  called  tne  7^- 
pws,  or  the  Forimdanj^  was  likewise  condemned  by  Pope 
Theodore,  in  a  council  held  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter. 
The  holy  Pope  St.  Martin  also  held  a  council  of  105  bi- 
shops in  the  Lateran  Church,  wherein  he  censured  the 
Fjcthesis  of  Heraclius,  and  the  Typvs  of  Constantius,  and 
solemnly  condemned  Sergius,  Pyrrhus,  and  Paul,  the 
ringleaders  of  the  Monothelite  sect.  The  JEcfhe^is  was 
censured  because  it  was  entirely  favourable  to  the  Mono- 


2!20  HISTORY   OP   THt: 

thelites,  and  the  Fbrmulary,  hecause  it  imposed  sileiKe,  and 
forhid  to  mention  either  one  or  two  operations  in  Christ. 
"  The  Lord,"  said  the  Lateran  Fathers,  "  hath  command- 
"  ed  lis  to  shun  evil  and  do  good:  but  not  to  reject  the 
^^  good  with  the  evil:  we  are  not  to  deny  at  the  same  time 
"  both  truth  and  error.-'  The  emperor  Constantius  was 
so  much  exasperated  hereat,  that  he  sent  Olympius 
first,  and  then  Caliopas,  in  quality  of  exarch,  into  Italy, 
with  an  order  either  to  cause  Martin  to  be  massacred,  or 
sent  prisoner  into  the  East.  Martin  being  at  length  seized 
at  midnight,  was  carried  in  a  boat 'down  the  Tyber  to 
Porto,  where  he  was  put  on  board  a  vessel  to  be  convey- 
ed to  Constantinople.  It  is  ahnost  incredible  with  what 
barbarity  he  was  treated:  being  stripped  of  his  sacerdotal 
pallium,  he  was  chained  with  an  iron  collar  about  his  neck, 
and  confined  to  a  dreary  dungeon  at  Chersonesus,  where 
he  endured  the  greatest  hard-^hips  with  heroic  patience, 
until  he  resigiied  his  soul  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord. 

The  Monothelite  heresy  was  at  length  effectually  sup- 
pressed, and  solemnly  condemned  in  the  year  680,  by  the 
sixth  General  Council,  and  third  of  Constantinople,  in  the 
reign  of  the  pious  emperor  Constantine  Pogonatus.  This 
council  consisted  of  166  bishops,  or,  according  to  the  an- 
nals of  the  Greeks,  of  289.  St.  Agatho  presided  thereat 
by  his  legates.  With  a  view  of  adding  a  supplement  of 
new  canons  to  those  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  general  coun- 
cils, two  hundred  and  eleven  bishops  of  the  Greek  Church 
held  the  council,  called  Quinisext,  in  a  hall  in  the  impe- 
rial palace  at  Constantinople,  named  TruUus^  in  the  year 
692,  which  laid  a  foundation  of  certain  differences  in  dis- 
cipfiue  between  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches. 

The  orthodox  faith  shone  in  this  age  with  the  highest 
glory  and  lustre,  in  the  zeal,  sufierings,  and  death  of  St. 
Maximus,  surnamed,  by  the  Greeks,  Humologetes,  or  con- 
fessor. He  held  a  public  conference  with  Pyrrhus,  the 
Monothehte,  at  Carthage,  in  the  year  645,  and  by  the 
force  of  his  arguments  obliged  him  to  retract  all  he  had 
done  or  taught  against  the  faith ;  but  the  dissembler  soon 
relapsed  into  his  errors.  The  writings  of  St.  Maximus  are 
printed  in  two  volumes  in  folio,  and  consist  of  mystic  or 
allegprical  commentaries  on  the  Scripture  ;  of  commenta- 
ries on  the  works  attributed  to  St.  Denis  the  Areopagite ; 
of  polemic  treatises  against  the  Monothelites  ;  excellent 


cmrRCH  or  curj^r.  521 

ascetic  discourses,  letters,  and  spiritual  maxims,  principally 
on  charity.  The  MonotheHtes  found  also  a  IbrmidabJe 
adversary  in  St.  Sophronius,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  who 
explained  the  Catholic  faith  in  an  excellent  synodal  letter, 
"which  was  confirmed  by  the  sixth  General  Council.  His 
sermons  breathe  an  aflecting  piety.  In  a  sermon  on  the 
exaltation  of  the  cross,  he  mentions  the  custom  of  takinj^- 
the  cross  out  of  its  case  at  midlent  to  be  venerated.  He 
deplored  the  abomination  of  desolation  set  up  by  the  Ma- 
hometans in  the  holy  place.  Before  his  promotion  to  the 
Patriarchate,  he  lived  twenty  years  near  Jerusalem,  under 
the  direction  of  John  Moschus,  the  holy  hermit,  who  wrote 
the  Spiritual  Meadoiv,  wherein  he  gives  an  account  of  the 
edifying  examples  of  virtue  which  he  had  seen  or  heard,, 
when  he  visited  the  monasteries  of  Ej^ypt. 

St.  Anastasius,  the  Simtiiej  llonrished  likewise  in  this 
age,  and  confuted  the  errors  of  the  Eutychians  and  Ace- 
phali,  by  an  excellent  work  entitled  OdeguSy  or,  the  Guide. 
He  wrote  several  ascetic  works,  full  of  piety  and  devotion. 
In  his  discourse  on  the  Synaxis,  or  mass-,  he  urges  the  du- 
ties of  confession  to  a  priest,  respect  at  mass,  and  pardon 
of  injuries,  in  so  pathetic  a  manner,  that  Canisius  and 
Camhesis  recommend  this  piece  to  the  diligent  perusal  of 
all  preachers. 

St.  Isidore,  archbishop  of  Seville,  to  extend  to  posterity 
the  advantages  which  his  apostolical  labours  had  procured 
to  the  Church,  compiled  many  useful  works,  wherein  he 
takes  in  the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences,  and  discovers  a 
most  extensive  reading,  and  a  general  acquaintance  with 
the  ancient  writers,  both  sacred  and  profane.  He  died  in 
the  year  636.  The  most  famous  of  his  works  are  twenty 
books  of  Etymologies y  or.  Origins^  in  which  he  lays  down 
the  principles  of  the  different  sciences.  His  three  books 
of  the  Sentences^  or  on  the  summuni  honum^  are  a  summary 
of  theology.  In  his  j;vvo  books  on  the  Divine  or  Ecdesias- 
ileal  Offices,  he  explains  the  canonical  hours,  ceremonies, 
feasts,  and  fasts  of  the  Church.  His  monastic  rule  re- 
sembles that  of  St.  Bennet  :  in  it  he  orders  mass  to  be 
said  for  every  deceased  brother,  and  on  Monday  in  Whit- 
sun  week  for  all  the  faithful  departed. 

St.  Omer,  or  Audomarus,  bishop  of  Tarvanne,  in  Belgic 
Gaul  ;   St.  Ouen,  or  Audoen,  archbishop  of  Rouen  ;  St. 
John  the  Almoner,  patriaixh  of  Alexandria,  &,c.  lived  in 
T2 


222  HISTORY    OF    THS 

this  age.  The  other  principal  fathers,  saints,  and  eccle- 
siastical writers  of  this  century,  were  St.  Ildephonse  and 
St.  Julian,  archbishops  of  Toledo  ;  St.  Braulio,  bishop  of 
Saragossa ;  St.  Rupert,  bishop  of  Saltzbourg,  and  apostle 
of  the  Bavarians  and  Bohemians  ;  St.  Cuthbert,  bishop  of 
Lindisfarne  ;  St.  Theodorus,  of  Siceon  in  Galatia  ;  St. 
Anastasius  I.  patriarch  of  Antiochia  ;  St.  Aldhelm,  bishop 
of  Sherburn ;  St.  Theodard  and  St.  Lambert,  bishops  of 
Maestricht ;  St.  Kilian,  who,  commissioned  by  Pope  Conon, 
preached  the  Gospel  in  Franconia,  with  amazing  success ; 
St.  Eligius,  apostle  of  the  Flemings  and  Western  Saxons  ; 
St.  Columba,  who  converted  the  Swedes ;  St.  Rumold, 
apostle  of  Mechlin  ;  St.  Livin,  of  Ghent ;  St.  Willibrord, 
consecrated  by  Pope  Sergius,  first  bishop  of  Utrecht,  in 
the  year  696  ;  St.  Swidbert,  and  many  other  apostolic  and 
learned  men,  to  whose  indefatigable  zeal,  preaching,  and 
illustrious  miracles,  Friseland,  Brabant,  Holland,  Guel- 
ders,  Cleves,  and  other  parts  of  Lower  Germany,  are  in- 
debted for  their  Christianity. 

Alford  and  Cressy  relate,  that  it  was  about  the  close  of 
this  century  that  the  pious  virgin  St.  Wenefride  suffered 
Martyrdom  at  Holy-Well,  in  North  Wales.  The  won- 
derful spring  at  this  place,  is  in  itself  far  more  remarkable 
than  the  celebrated  fountain  of  Vaucluse,  five  leagues  from 
Avignon,  famous  for  the  retreat  of  Petrarch  the  poet,  or 
that  of  La  Source,  two  leagues  from  Orleans,  where  Lord 
Bolingbroke  built  himself  a  house,  these  being  no  more 
than  subterraneous  rivers  ;  but  at  St.  Wenefride's  w  ell 
such  vast  quantities  of  water  spring  continually  without 
intermission  or  variation,  that  above  twenty-six  tons  are 
raised  every  minute,  for  if  the  water  be  let  out,  the  basin 
and  well,  which  contain  at  least  240  tons,  are  filled  in  less 
than  ten  minutes. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TTie  rise  and  progress  of  Mahometanism. 

WHILST  the  Church,  brilliant  as  the  rainbow  in  all  its 
glory,  was  shooting  her  rays  of  brightness  on  every  side 
through  the  clouds  that  surrounded  her  5  whilst  the  apos- 


•    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  ^2S 

tolic  labours  of  her  pastors  and  doctors  were  crowned 
with  the  most  amazing  success  in  the  difi'erent  nations, 
which,  hke  so  many  fragments,  had  been  torn  from  the 
body  of  the  western  empire,  the  Arabians  and  Saracens, 
by  their  incursions,  were  spreading  alarms  through  all  the 
East,  and  carried  their  insults  to  the  very  gates  of  Con- 
stantinople. The  Greeks,  exhausted  by  the  wars  they 
had  supported  in  the  West,  and  in  the  East  against  the 
Persians,  were  constantly  overthrown  and  defeated  by  the 
barbarians,  who  spread  themselves  like  a  torrent  over  the 
empire,  and  overturned  every  thing  that  opposed  their 
passage.  The  emperor  Heraclius,  astonished  at  their 
victories,  and  demanding  one  day  in  council  what  could  be 
the  cause,  a  grave  person  of  the  assembly  stood  up  and 
said,  ^'  It  is  because  the  Greeks  have  dishonoured  the 
"  sanctity  of  their  profession,  and  no  longer  retain  the 
'^  doctrine  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  and  his  disciples.  They 
"  insult  and  oppress  one  another,  live  in  enmity  and  dis- 
"  sensions,  and  are  abandoned  to  the  most  infamous  usu- 
"  ries  and  lusts."  In  reality,  the  vices  and  disorders  of 
the  Greeks  at  that  period  excited  such  odium,  that  the 
very  infidels  held  them  in  detestation,  if  we  may  give 
credit  to  their  own  most  celebrated  writers.  Their  fre- 
quent defeats  were  looked  upon  by  the  Emperor  himself 
to  be  a  just  punishment  of  their  sins,  by  which  they  pro- 
voked the  vengeance  of  Heaven,  and  drew  upon  their  na- 
tion the  scourges  of  Divine  Justice.  It  was  in  the  reign 
of  Heraclius  that  the  sect  of  Mahomet  was  suffered  to 
establish  itself  among  the  Saracens,  who  then  laid  the 
foundation  of  an  empire  equal  to  that  of  the  Romans. 
Mahomet,  or  rather  Mahommed,  broached  his  impostures 
at  Mecca,  in  the  38th  year  of  his  age,  and  the  608th  of 
the  Christian  sera,  setting  himself  above  Jesus  Christ, 
whom  he  notwithstanding  acknowledged  to  be  a  great  pro- 
phet. Not  like  the  Apostles,  who  had  planted  the  holy 
Christian  religion  by  means  evidently  divine,  this  famous 
impostor  ushered  into  the  world  his  pretended  revelations 
and  carnal  sensual  religion  by  open  violence  and  other 
means  merely  natural.  He  established  his  sect  by  letting 
loose  the  reins  to  the  passions,  and  destroying  with  the 
sword  such  as  refused  to  submit  to  his  impious  tenets. 
With  the  help  of  a  Jew  and  a  Nestorian  Monk,  called 
Sergius^  he  compiled  his  Alcoran,  or  the  book  of  his  new 


224  HISTORY    OF    THE 

religion,  which  is  a  monstrous  compound  of  absurdity  and 
nonsense,  and  a  strange  medley  of  Judaism,  Christianity, 
old  heresies,  and  extravagant  imaginations,  without  design 
or  connexion.  Tiiere  are  indeed  in  it  some  passages  that 
strike  with  a  certain  air  of  grandeur,  but  the  whole  is  so 
foolish  and  puerile  and  so  full  of  repetitions,  that  one 
would  need  much  patience  to  read  any  part  of  it  even 
once.  He  boasted  that  he  had  received  his  abominable 
doctrine  from  the  angel  Gabriel,  and  attributed  to  his 
visits  the  epileptic  fits,  to  which  he  was  subject,  saying, 
but  not  producing  any  other  proof  but  his  own  bare  word, 
that  these  fits  were  trances  and  convulsions,  occasioned 
by  the  angePs  presence,  which  was  more  than  he  was  able 
to  bear.  He  adopted  circumcision,  and  prescribed  absti- 
nence from  wine,  blood,  and  pork,  but  exploded  the  in- 
carnation and  all  distinction  of  persons  in  the  Deity.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  allowed  every  man  to  have  four  wives, 
and  concubines  without  restriction,  reserving  to  himself 
the  liberty  of  marrying  as  often  as  he  pleased,  insomuch 
that  he  is  said  to  have  had  at  least  fifteen  wives,  and  ten 
of  them  together.  His  doctrine  meeting  with  opposition 
at  Mecca,  he  was  compelled  to  fiy  to  Medina,  in  the  year 
622,  and  it  was  from  this  flight  that  the  Hegira  of  the 
Arabs,  that  is,  the  ajra  and  epoch,  from  which  the  Ma- 
hometans date  their  years,  commenced.  In  the  year  628, 
Mahomet  was  declared  chief  in  religious  and  civil  matters, 
with  the  title  of  Prophet.  His  followers  were  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  Mussulmen.  The  Saracens,  so  called  from 
Scumca,  a  city  of  Arabia,  embraced  his  system  of  religion, 
attracted  by  the  latitude  he  allowed  them  to  indulge  their 
sensual  desires  and  carnal  pleasures.  In  the  beginning  he 
was  joined  with  a  little  army  of  proselytes,  chiefly  consist- 
ing of  thieves  and  fugitive  slaves,  whom  he  exhorted  to 
take  up  arms  for  religion,  and  to  propagate  it  by  the 
power  of  the  sword,  promising  a  paradise  of  all  sensual 
pleasures  and  delights  to  those  who  should  die  fighting  in 
that  cause.  He  began  his  conquests  at  Medina,  and  from 
that  period  the  Saracen  power  advanced  with  great  rapidi- 
ty, and  grew  to  an  amazing  height  in  less  than  thirty  years. 
At  first  Mahomet  attacked  the  caravans,  that  travelled 
through  the  country  for  trade,  and  meeting  with  great 
success,  he  enriched  his  followers,  and  enlarged  his  pro- 
jects.    Actuated  by  a  fanatic  rage  he  possessed  himself 


CliURCH  OF  CHRIST.  225 

of  the  town  of  Mecca,  and  carried  the  sword  of  destruc- 
tion from  one  tribe  of  people  to  another,  forcing  them  ei- 
ther to  adopt  his  new  religion  or  to  pay  him  an  annual 
tribute.  Hence  it  is  easy  to  conclude,  that  ambition,  lust, 
and  cruelty,  were  the  characteristics  of  Mahomet.  Before 
his  death,  which  happened  at  Medina,  in  the  year  632,  he 
was  master  of  almost  all  Arabia.  Aboubeker,  whose  daugh- 
ter he  had  married,  succeeded  hhn  under  the  title  of  Ca- 
liph, or  vicar  of  the  prophet;  He  died  after  a  reign  of 
two  years.  Omar,  his  successor,  and  the  second  caliph, 
took  Damascus,  and,  after  a  siege  of  two  years,  Jerusa- 
lem, Antioch,  and  Alexandria,  the  reduction  of  which  was 
followed  by  the  conquest  of  all  Egypt.  He  built  a 
mosque  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  place  of  Solomon's  Temple, 
and  because  it  fell  in  the  night,  the  Jews  told  him  it 
would  not  stand,  unless  the  Cross  of  Christ,  which  stood 
on  Mount  Calvary,  was  taken  away  ;  which  Omar  caused 
to  be  done,  as  Theophanes  tells  us,  page  284.  He  even 
blocked  up  Constantinople  with  a  fleet  of  eighteen  hun- 
dred ships,  which  w^ere  destroyed  by  fire  and  tempest, 
three  hundred  thousand  men  having  perished  then  with 
pestilence  and  hunger.  Shortly  after  the  Caliph  seized 
on  Tripoli  and  almost  all  Barbary,  and  extended  his 
conquests  all  along  the  coasts,  on  the  Mediterranean 
sea,  to  the  straits  of  Gibraltar.  In  the  course  of  Oth- 
man's  reign,  who  succeeded  Omar  in  the  year  643,  all 
Persia  submitted  to  the  Saracen  yoke.  They  blocked  up 
the  whole  island  of  Cyprus,  in  the  year  648,  with  seven- 
teen hundred  ships,  and  subdued  it.  They  also  reduced 
the  island  of  Rhodes,  and  other  islands  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  in  the  year  668,  they  brought  away  from 
Africa  an  innumerable  multitude  of  captives,  having  taken 
eighty  thousand  from  Syracuse  alone.  From  Africa  they 
passed  into  Spain,  where  they  made  settlements,  and  were 
called  Moors,  because  they  came  from  Mauritania  in 
Africa.  They  also  made  several  incursions  into  France 
and  Italy,  and  committed  the  most  horrid  barbarities,  and 
gave  sad  specimens  of  their  cruelty,  burning  the  towns, 
crucifying  t^ie  principal  citizens,  massacring  men,  women, 
and  children,  and  spreading  terror  wherever  they  came. 
By  so  many  conquests,  the  Saracen  empire  grew  too  un- 
wieldy in  the  hands  of  one  ruler,  and  therefore  his  vast 
dominions  were,  at  length  divided  into  several  independent- 


226  HISTORY    OF    THE 

dynasties,  or  principalities.  The  governors  appointed  by 
the  Arabian  caliph  over  the  diflerent  provinces  renounced 
their  subjection,  set  up  their  own  authority,  and  began  to 
enlarge  their  respective  dominions.  Some  of  them  carried 
their  victorious  arms  into  the  vast  country  of  Indostaii, 
and  reduced  a  great  part  of  it.  Other  princes,  or  siiUanSj 
(a  word  that  signifies  the  king  of  kings,)  as  they  were  then 
called,  aided  by  different  tribes  of  Tartars  or  Turks,  that 
issued  from  the  Northern  countries  above  the  Caspian 
Sea,  made  irruptions  into  the  Asiatic  provinces  of  the 
Greek  empire,  and  having  settled  in  that  tract  of  Asia, 
now  known  by  the  name  of  Georgia,  and  Turcomania, 
made  peace  with  the  Saracens,  and  embraced  the  Ma- 
hometan religion.  Upon  the  death  of  Alad.in,  sultan  of 
Iconium,  in  Lesser  Asia,  Othman,  the  Arabian  Sultan,  ob- 
tained the  sovereignty  of  this  country,  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  the  vast  empire  of  the  Turks,  which  from  his 
name  is  called  the  Ottoman  Porte.  The  empire  of  the 
Saracens  being  thus  swallow  ed  up,  the  succeeding  Turk- 
ish sultans,  inheriting  the  warlike  spirit  of  Othman  their 
founder,  subdued  in  process  of  time  the  greatest  part  of 
the  provinces  of  the  Eastern  empire,  and  reduced  the 
Greeks  to  such  straits,  that  nothing  seemed  left  to  be  con- 
quered but  the  imperial  city  of  Constantinople.  But  Ta- 
merlane, the  founder  of  a  great  empire  in  Tartary,  a 
generous  and  valiant  prince,  to  defend  the  Grecian  em- 
pire against  the  encroachments  of  the  Turks,  fell  upon 
them,  and  having  defeated  them  near  the  banks  of  the 
Euphrates,  took  their  sultan  Bajazet,  and  kept  him  pri- 
soner in  an  iron  cage.  Notwithstanding  this  check,  the 
Turks  afterwards  continued  their  conquests  over  both  the 
Saracens  and  the  Greeks,  till  they  at  length  became  mas- 
ters both  of  Constantinople  and  Trebisond.  Such  has 
been  the  rise  and  amazing  growth  of  Mahometanism.  It 
has  been  permitted,  through  God's  inscrutable  judgments, 
to  overspread  those  regions  which  had  enriched  the  Church 
with  the  Ignatiuses,  the  Polycarps,  the  Basils,  the  Ephrems, 
the  Chrysostoms,  the  Augustines,  the  Cyprians,' the  Je- 
romes, and  Gregories.  Palestine,  which  after  having  been 
for  above  fourteen  hundred  years  God's  chosen  inheritance 
under  the  Old  Law,  was  sanctified  by  the  presence,  la- 
bours, and  sufferings  of  Christ,  gave  birth  to  his  Church, 
and  was  watered  with  the  blood  of  innumerable  glorious 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  227 

martyrs,  has  thus  fallen  a  prey  to  the  most  impious  and 
gross  superstition.  Greece,  so  famous  in  history,  once 
the  seminary  of  learning,  the  nursery  of  piety,  and  the 
fertile  parent  of  legions  of  eminent  saints,  and  Egypt, 
lieretofore  renowned  for  eighteen  thousand  cities,  and 
said  to  be  inhabited  by  twenty-seven  millions  of  Christians, 
now,  alas !  groan  under  the  Turkish  yoke,  and  are  buried 
in  the  darkness  of  infidelity.  So  many  flourishing  churches 
in  the  East,  planted  by  the  labours  of  the  Apostles,  have 
been  abandoned  to  Barbarians,  and  treated  hke  the  vine- 
yard, mentioned  in  the  5th  c.  of  Isaiah,  which  was  at 
length  abandoned,  and  the  time  of  forbearance  being  ex- 
pired, was  delivered  up  to  be  plundered  and  trodden  under 
foot,  hke  a  desert.  This,  indeed,  is  a  dreadful  instance 
of  the  justice  of  God,  who,  for  his  own  wise  reasons,  some- 
times withdraws  the  gift  of  faith  from  one  nation  to  give 
it  to  another,  and  who,  when  provoked  by  the  crying  sins 
of  his  people,  employs  their  very  enemies  as  a  scourge  to 
punish  them.  However,  in  proportion  as  the  light  of  the 
Gospel  was  weakened  in  the  East,  by  the  conquests  of  the 
Mahometans,  it  darted  its  beams  towards  the  West  and 
the  North,  and  the  flambeau  of  faith,  hke  unto  the  Sun 
in  the  Heavens,  began  immediately  to  enlighten  one  coun- 
try on  quitting  another.  By  this  economy,  w^hich  is  usually 
observed  in  the  course  of  Divine  Providence,  the  Church 
continues  always  Catholic j  as  she  gains  in  one  place  what 
she  loses  in  another. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Tlie  Church  of  the  eighth  Century. 

AMIDST  the  scandals,  schisms,  and  heresies,  that  as- 
saulted the  Church  at  difierent  times,  the  providence  of 
God  never  failed  to  raise  up  zealous  pastors  and  apostolic 
men,  filled  with  his  Holy  Spirit,  and  qualified  to  instruct 
his  people,  and  defend  the  purity  of  the  orthodox  faith. 
The  prophet  Isaiah  foretold  this  constant,  and  perpetual 
succession  of  pastors  and  teachers  in  the  Church  of  Christ, 
when  he  said:  "  Upon  thy  walls,  O  Jerusalem,  I  have  ap- 
'' pointed  watchmen,  all  the  day  and  all  the  night,  they 


228  HISTORY   OF    THE 

^'  shall  never  hold  their  peace."  The  chief  pastors  of  the 
Church  in  the  eighth  century,  were  John  VI.  who  filled 
the  pontifical  chair  from  the  close  of  the  year  701,  till  the 
9th  of  January,  705.  John  VII.  who  sat  near  three  years, 
Sisinnius  twenty  days,  Constantine  about  seven  years,  St. 
Gregory  II.  upwards  of  fifteen  years,  St.  Gregory  III. 
about  ten  years,  St.  Zachary  ten  years,  Stephen  II.  three 
days,  Stephen  III.  five  years,  Paul  I.  ten  years,  Stephen 
IV.  about  four  years,  Adrian  I.  renowned  for  his  piety 
and  erudition,  about  twenty-four  years,  and  Leo  III.  about 
twenty  years. 

The  succession  of  saints  and  ecclesiastical  writers  was 
kept  up  by  St.  John  Damascene,  St.  Paulinus  of  Aquileia, 
St.  Germanus,  St.  Tarasius,  Venerable  Bede,  St.  Lullus, 
archbishop  of  Mentz,  St.  Burkard,  first  bishop  of  Wurz- 
burg,  in  Franconia,  St.  Hidulphus,  archbishop  of  Triers, 
St.  Rumold,  bishop  of  Dublin,  who  was  crowned  with 
martyrdom  at  Mechlin  in  Brabant,  in  the  year  755,  St. 
Hubert,  bishop  of  Liege,  St.  Boniface,  St.  Adelbert,  St. 
Lebwin,  St.  Willibald,  St.  Marchlem,  St.  .Eoaban,  St. 
Wigbert,  St.  Werenfrid,  St.  Walburga,  St.  Witta,  St. 
Tecla,  St.  Sola,  St.  Vigilius,  St.  Egburt,  Alcuin,  Theo- 
dolphus,  of  Orleans,  Ehas,  of  Crete,  Florus,  of  liaodicea, 
Fredegardius,  Isidorus,  Paulus,  and  several  others,  \vh«* 
by  their  eminent  sanctity,  learning,  and  miracles,  served 
to  stem  the  torrent  of  barbarism  and  ferocity,  which 
every  where  followed  the  arms  of  the  Saracens. 

The  conduct  of  Christ  toward  his  Church,  which  he 
planted  at  the  price  of  his  blo«d,  cannot  be  considered 
attentively  without  admiring  the  adorable  counsels  of  his 
tender  Providence.  This  Church,  so  dear  to  him,  and  so 
precious  in  his  eyes,  never  was,  never  is,  never  will  be, 
without  some  persecution,  either  open  or  hidden,  either 
general  or  particular.  He  formed  and  spread  it  from  the 
very  beginning  under  most  severe  and  dreadful  persecutions. 
He  exposed  it  in  every  age  to  frequent  violent  storms, 
and  seems  to  delight  in  always  holding  at  least  some  part  or 
other  of  it  in  the  fiery  crucible.  But  the  days  of  its  severest 
trials  have  been  those  of  its  most  glorious  triumphs. 
Then  it  shone,  above  all  other  periods  of  time,  with  the 
brightest  examples  of  sanctity,  and  formed  in  its  bosom 
the  most  illustrious  heroes  of  all  perfect  virtue.  There 
is  not  an  article  of  her  faith  but  has  been  attacked  by  the 


ciiL'Rcn  OF  CHRIST^  2:29 

false  reasonings  of  unbelievers,  and  the  experience  of 
past  ages  shows,  that  some  Christian  emperors  have  been 
no  less  inimical  to  her  than  the  Pagan  emperors  of  Rome, 
and  that  the  persecutions  which  sprung  from  heresies 
were  never  more  violent  than  after  the  ten  general  per- 
secutions had  ceased.  The  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
incarnation,  his  grace,  his  sacraments,  in  fine,  all  the  dog- 
mas of  faith  have  become  from  time  to  time  the  subject 
of  different  heretical  errors,  and  have  given  occasion  to 
fatal  divisions  and  altercations.  But  these  heretical  errors 
could  never  prevail,  though  they  were  supported  by  a 
Constantius,  a  Valens,  &c.  who  had  no  more  power  to 
alter  or  corrupt  the  faith,  than  Nero  and  Dioclesian  had 
to  hinder  it  from  being  established.  The  Church,  which 
saw  so  many  heresies  rise,  saw  them  all  vanish  out  of 
sight,  one  after  the  other,  and  can  point  out  their  authors 
and  first  cause,  the  time  and  place  of  their  origin,  with 
their  progress  and  downfal.  She  has  always  been  ex- 
tremely watchful  and  attentive  to  discover  the  tares  that 
grew  up  among  the  wheat,  and  zealous  in  opposing  the 
growth  of  every  heresy,  however  obscure  or  speculative, 
at  its  first  appearance.  The  errors  of  Tertullian,  Origen, 
Lactantius,  Arnobius,  Cassian,  and  of  the  holy  bishop  St. 
Cyprian,  could  not  escape  her  watchful  eye,  notwithstand- 
ing the  reputation  of  their  wit  and  learning,  and  the  high 
esteem  their  orthodox  writings  are  justly  held  in  by  all 
men  of  letters.  All  this  could  not  save  their  errors  from 
being  combated  and  condemned.  So  careful  is  the 
Church  of  every  age  to  adhere  closely  to  the  purity  of 
the  primitive  faith,  and  to  hand  it  down  to  posterity  pre- 
cisely as  she  received  it  from  the  Apostles,  without  over- 
looking the  smallest  innovation,  or  sufl'ering  the  slightest 
deviation  from  it.  It  is  evident  from  the  genuine  histo- 
ries of  her  councils,  and  from  the  writings  of  the  holy 
Fathers,  that  she  always  laid  it  down  as  an  invariable  rule 
and  principle,  not  to  depart  one  single  iota  from  the  an- 
cient faith,  but  to  adhere  firmly  to  the  doctrine  received 
from  the  preceding  generation,  and  to  convey  it  pure  and 
undefiled  to  the  succeeding  generation,  without  any,  even 
the  least  addition  or  diminution.  By  this  means,  it  be- 
comes impossible  that  her  faith  should  ever  be  altered  or 
corrupted.  Her  di-cipline  may,  indeed,  vary,  according 
to  the  circumsfRnces  of  tiiue  and  place,  but  her  doctrine 


230  HISTORY  OF  THE 

1 

of  faith  is  always  the  same,  and  will  alw  ays  be  the  same 
to  the  end  of  the  world  ;  for  if  the  Church  of  the  second 
century,  for  example,  believed  nothing  as  revealed  truths, 
but  what  she  received  from  Christ  and  his  Apostles  in  the 
first  century,  it  is  manifest  that  the  faith  of  the  first  and 
second  century  was  perfectly  the  same.  And  if  the 
Church  of  the  second  century  delivered  the  same  entire 
and  uncorrupted  to  the  Church  of  the  third  century,  then 
the  faith  of  the  third  century  must  infallibly  be  the  same 
with  the  faith  of  the  two  preceding  centuries,  and  the 
same  must  necessarily  be  the  case  with  every  succeeding 
century  to  the  present,  and  will  be  throughout  all  ages. 
Moreover,  the  promised  assistance  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
teach  the  Church  all  truth,  and  to  abide  with  her  for  ever, 
puts  this  matter  beyond  the  possibility  of  any  doubt,  for  he 
guides  the  great  body  of  the  pastors  of  his  Church  into 
his  truth  through  all  ages,  not  indeed  by  continual  succes- 
sive inspirations,  but  by  dii-ecting  and  assisting  them  by 
his  all-wise  and  all-powerful  protection,  in  discharging  the 
office  of  teaching  all  nations,  without  any  danger  of  lead- 
ing them  astray.  Hence  it  is,  that  the  Church  cannot  be 
deceived  in  any  point  of  faith,  for  though  individuals, 
whereof  she  is  composed,  are  fallible,  and  liable  to  errors, 
yet  the  whole  body  of  the  Church  is  infalhble,  this  infalli- 
bility not  being  grounded  on  the  holiness,  wit,  or  learning 
of  fallible  men,  nor  depending  on  the  personal  merits,  or 
natural  qualifications  of  any  assembly  of  men,  but  being 
derived  from  the  assurance  of  God's  unerring  word,  and 
owing  to  the  sacred  influences  and  infalhble  direction  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  Church  being  thus  placed  under  the  protection  of 
Heaven,  and  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  had  already 
weathered  out  many  violent  storms,  and  triumphed  over 
several  formidable  heresies,  which  had  taken  their  rise  in 
the  East.  Another  dreadful  storm  was  raised  against  her 
in  the  eighth  century  by  the  Iconoclasts,  or  Image-break- 
ers, who  made  their  appearance  in  the  year  726.  The 
heresy  of  these  fanatics  was  the  more  dangerous,  as  it  had 
the  emperor  Leo  the  Isaurian  for  its  author,  and  was 
warmly  supported  by  his  son  and  successor  Constantine 
<>opronymus,  and  by  his  grandson  Leo,  surnamed  Cha- 
zarus.  The  Isaurian,  though  ignorant  of  the  elements  of 
the  Christian  doctrine,  had  the  vanity  to  commence  re- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  231 

former  of  religion,  and  become  chieftain  of  this  new  sect. 
By  an  imperial  edict  which  he  pubhshed,  he  ordered  the 
sacred  images  and  pictures  of  Christ,  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, and  of  the  Saints,  to  be  taken  out  of  the  churches,  and 
to  be  broken  and  burnt  in  the  public  streets  of  Constan- 
tinople, to  the  great  scandal  of  the  faithful,  who  mur- 
mured and  complained  loudly,  on  seeing  Christ  and  his 
Saints  thus  dishonoured  in  effigy.  The  statues  of  tlie 
Emperor  were,  on  this  occasion,  overthrown  in  several 
places,  and  when  he  complained  that  his  person  was  there- 
by affronted,  he  was  reproached  with  offering  a  similar 
affront  to  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Saints,  and  toid  that  by 
his  own  confession  the  indignity  offered  to  the  images 
reflected  upon  the  original. 

But  the  Emperor,  being  infatuated  by  certain  Jews, 
who  had  gained  an  ascendant  ov^er  him,  by  pretended  as- 
trological predictions,  endeavoured  to  establish  his  heresy 
by  bloodshed  and  violence.  Deaf  to  the  remonstrances, 
tears,  and  entreaties  of  the  orthodox  bishops  of  the  East, 
and  of  Gregory  II.  the  tyrant  sent  orders  to  several  of  his 
officers  to  kill  the  holy  Pope,  though  he  strenuously  main- 
tained the  people  of  Italy  in  their  allegiance  to  their 
prince,  and  pacified  the  mutineers  in  the  West,  as  Anas- 
tasius  assures  us,  whilst  he  signalized  his  zeal  in  opposing 
every  innovation  in  the  faith,  and  in  settling  a  reforma- 
tion in  manners,  during  the  fifteen  years,  eight  months, 
and  twenty-three  days  that  he  held  the  pontificate.  Con- 
stantine  Copronymus  carried  on  for  twenty  years,  the 
sacrilegious  war  which  his  father  Leo  had  begun  against 
holy  images.  In  the  year  754,  he  caused  a  pretended 
council  of  338  Iconoclast  bishops  to  meet  at  Constanti- 
nople, and  to  condemn  the  use  of  holy  images,  as  a  rem- 
nant of  idolatry.  In  all  parts  of  the  empire  he  perse- 
cuted the  Cathohcs,  to  compel  them  to  subscribe  to  his 
decree,  and  those  who  refused  to  consent  to  his  impiety, 
were  treated  with  the  utmost  severity.  The  eyes  of 
several  were  pulled  out,  their  noses  were  cut  off,  they 
were  cruelly  scourged,  beheaded,  or  cast  into  the  sea. 
Copronymus  levelled  his  malice  chiefly  against  the  mon"ks, 
and  sent  a  body  of  armed  men  to  burn  down  the  famous 
monastery  of  Mount  S.  Auxentius,  near  Chalcedon,  to 
the  very  foundation,  and  to  disperse  all  the  monks,  be- 
cause they  would  not  come  into  his  measure*.     In  parti- 


i^32  IJISTOUV    :   .■    ii.fc 

cular  he  persecuted  St.  Stephen  the  abbot,  and  employed 
several  stratagems  to  draw  him  into  a  snare,  knowing 
that  the  reputation  of  his  sanctity  and  miracles  multiplied 
the  defenders  of  holy  images. 

But  all  his  efforts  to  shake  the  Saint's  constancy  prov- 
ing ineflectual,  St.  Stephen  was  taken  into  custody,  loaded 
with  irons,  and  presented  for  examination  before  the  Empe- 
ror, who  asked  him,  whether  he  beheved  that  men  trampled 
on  Christ,  by  trampling  on  his  image  ?  "  God  forbid,"  re- 
plied St.  Stephen.  Then  taking  a  piece  of  the  Emperor's 
coin  in  his  hand,  he  asked  what  treatment  he  should  de- 
^erve  who  should  stamp  upon  that  image  of  the  Emperor.? 
The  assembly  crying  out,  that  he  should  be  severely  pu- 
iiishcd,  "  Is  it  then,"  said  the  saint,  "  so  great  a  crime  to 
'*  insult  the  image  of  the  Emperor  of  the  Earth,  and  none 
'•'to  cast  into  the  Hre  the  image  of  the  King  of  Heaven?" 
The  Emperor,  confounded  and  transported  with  rage, 
conmianded  that  he  should  be  beheaded,  but  recalled  the 
sentence  before  Stephen  reached  the  place  of  execution, 
resolving  to  reserve  him  for  a  more  cruel  death.  After 
some  deliberation,  he  sent  an  order,  that  he  should  be 
scourged  to  death  in  prison,  but  the  executioners  leaving 
the  Work  imperfect,  the  holy  martyr  was  shortly  after 
diagged  through  the  streets,  with  his  feet  tied  with  cords, 
and  his  brains  were  dashed  ont  with  staves  and  clubs,  as 
Cedrenus  and  Theophanes  inform  us. 

Leo  IV.  who  continued  the  persecution  that  had  been 
raised  by  his  father  and  grandfather,  dying  miserably,  in 
the  year  780,  after  a  five  years'  reign,  and  having  left  his 
son  Constantine,  but  ten  years  old,  under  the  guardianship 
of  the  Empress  Irene,  his  wife,  a  stop  was  put  by  her  to 
the  persecution  of  the  Catholics.  Irene  was  always  pri- 
vately a  Catholic,  though  an  artful  ambitious  woman,  and 
she  so  managed  the  nobility  in  her  favour,  as  to  get  the 
regency  and  the  whole  government  of  the  state  into  her 
bauds.  Having  dethroned  her  son  Constantine,  she  caused 
his  eyes  to  be  plucked  out  with  such  violence,  that  he 
died  of  his  wounds  in  797.  Irene  reigned  five  years  alone, 
after  which  she  at  length  met  with  the  deserved  reward 
of  her  ambition  and  cruelty  ;  for  in  the  year  802,  she  was 
deposed  by  Nicephorus,  her  chief  treasurer,  and  banished 
into  a  nu>i.asterv  in  the  Isle  of  Lesbos,  where  she  died  in 
close  coniinenient  in  303.     Nicephorus  assumed  the  Iiu- 


perial  diadem  on  the  last  day  of  October,  802.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  treacherous  and  perfidious  of  men,  dis- 
simulation being  his  chief  talent,  and  it  was  accompanied 
with  the  basest  cruelty  against  ail  whom  he  suspected  to 
be  his  enemies,  as  Theophanes  tells  us.  He  was  a  fast 
friend  to  the  Manichees,  or  Paulicans,  and  was  fond  of 
their  oracles  and  superstitions,  to  a  degree  of  phrensy. 
He  grievously  oppressed  the  Catholic  Bishops  and  monas- 
teries, and  when  remonstrances  were  made  to  him,  his 
answer  was.  My  heart  is  hardened  :  Never  expect  amj  thing 
but  what  you  see  from  Nicephorus.  When  he  was  setting 
out  in  May,  811,  to  invade  Bulgaria,  St.  Theodorus  the 
Studite  reproved  him  for  his  impiety,  exhorted  him  to  re- 
pent, and  foretold  that  he  never  would  return  from  that 
expedition.  But  regardless  of  the  salutary  counsel  given 
him,  he  entered  Bulgaria  with  a  superior  force,  and  re- 
fused all  terms  which  Crummius,  king  of  the  Bulgarians, 
offered  him.  The  barbarian  being  driven  to  despair,  came 
upon  him  by  surprise,  attacked  and  slew  him  in  his  tent 
on  the  25th  of  July,  811,  and  caused  a  drinking  cup  to  be 
made  of  the  Emperor's  head,  to  be  used  on  solemn  festi- 
vals, according  to  the  custom  of  the  ancient  Scythians. 
The  flower  of  the  Christian  army  perished  in  this  battle. 
Great  numbers  were  made  prisoners,  and  many  of  these 
were  tortured,  hanged,  beheaded,  or  shot  to  death  with 
arrows,  rather  than  consent  to  renounce  their  faith,  as  the 
Pagan  Bulgarians  required. 

Whilst  the  Iconoclasts  were  disturbing  the  peace  of  the 
Church,  Paul,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  the  third  of 
that  name,  being  touched  with  remorse  for  his  condescen- 
sion in  some  respects  to  the  then  reigning  heresy,  quitted 
the  patriarchal  see  in  order  to  end  his  days  in  a  monas- 
tery, and  repair  the  scandal  he  had  given.  St.  Tarasius 
was  therefore  chosen  patriarch  by  the  unanimous  consent 
of  the  court,  the  clergy,  and  the  people.  Finding  it  in 
vain  to  oppose  his  election,  he  was  solemnly  consecrated, 
on  Christmas  Day.  He  declared,  however,  that  he  could 
not  in  conscience  accept  of  the  government  of  a  see  which 
had  been  cut  off  from  the  Cathohc  communion,  but  on 
condition  that  a  general  council  should  be  called  to  com- 
pose the  disputes  which  divided  the  faithful  at  that  time, 
in  relation  to  holy  images.  This  being  agreed  to,  St.  Ta- 
rasius wFote  to  Pope  Adrian  on  the  subject  of  a  general 


234 


HISTORY   OP   THE 


council,  begging  that  he  would  either  come  in  person,  or 
send  his  legatees  for  this  purpose  to  Constantinople.  In 
consequence  hereof,  the  seventh  general  council  was 
opened  on  the  first  day  of  August,  in  the  Church  of  the 
Apostles,  at  Constantinople,  in  the  year  786,  but  being 
disturbed  by  the  violence  and  tumults  of  the  Iconoclasts, 
it  met  again  the  year  following,  in  the  famous  church  of 
St.  Sophia,  at  Nice.  It  consisted  of  350  bishops,  besides 
many  learned  abbots,  and  other  holy  priests  and  confes- 
sors, who  condemned  the  sham  council  held  under  Copro- 
nymus,  as  wanting  all  the  conditions  necessary  to  a  gene- 
ral council,  and  extinguished  the  sanguinary  heresy  of  the 
iconoclasts,  until  it  was  revived  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  Fathers  thus  assembled  refuted  all  their  objections 
as  to  every  article.  They  produced  the  testimonies  of  the 
J^criptures,  and  the  constant  tradition  of  the  Church  in  all 
ages,  in  favour  of  the  relative  honour  due  to  holy  images 
They  declared,  that  images  ought  to  be  set  up  in  churches, 
as  well  as  crosses,  because  the  oftener  people  behold  holy 
images  or  pictures,  the  oftener  they  are  excited  to  the  re- 
membrance of  what  they  represent  ;  that  those  images 
are  to  be  honoured,  but  not  with  the  worship  called  La- 
iria,  which  can  only  be  given  to  God  ;  that  the  honour 
paid  to  images  passes  to  the  archetypes,  or  things  repre- 
sented, and  he  who  reveres  the  image,  reveres  the  person 
it  represents.  This  is  what  the  faithful  are  taught  in  the 
first  rudiments  of  their  catechism,  and  it  was  to  inculcate 
the  same  doctrine  that,  as  Mr.  Weever,  a  learned  Pro- 
testant writer,  in  his  discourse  on  funeral  monuments,  p. 
117,  testifies,  these  Latin  verses  were  formerly  written 
under  the  pictures  of  Christ  in  all  abbey  churches  in  Eng- 
land, before  the  dissolution. 

"  Effigiem  Christi  dura  iransis,  semper  honora. 

^*  Non  tamen  effigiemj  sed  quern  designatj  adora. 

"  Nam  deus  est  quern  imago  docety  sed  non  Deus  ipsa  : 

*'  Uunc  videas,  et  menie  colas  quod  cernis  in  illa.^^ 

That  is,  in  English,  Honour  the  image  of  Christ ,  whilst 
thou  passest  6i/,  adoring  not  the  image^  hut  him  whom  it  re- 
presents. 

The  council  of  Nice  declared  this  to  be  the  doctrine  of 
the  Fathers,  and  tradition  of  the  Catholic  Church,  which  is 
the  rule  that  the  Church  follows  when  her  dogmas  of  faith 


CIIVRCH    OP    CHRIST.  235 

are  Tmpugned  and  called  in  question.  She  assembles  a 
lawful  council,  in  imitation  of  the  Apostles,  whose  spirit 
she  inherits.  She  makes  no  new  articles  of  faith,  but  only 
unfolds  the  truths  originally  revealed  by  Jesus  Christ,  and 
taught  by  the  Apostles  and  their  lawful  successors  in  the 
ministry.  She  examines  what  has  been  the  belief  of  all 
ages  and  of  all  nations,  which  are  there  present  in  their 
respective  pastors  and  prelates,  and  declares  more  expli- 
citly what  was  anciently  believed  by  Christians  of  every 
age,  in  relation  to  the  matter  in  debate. 

St.  Germanus,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  strenuously 
defended  the  faith,  vvith  equal  zeal,  learning,  and  pru- 
dence, first  against  the  Monothehtes,  and  afterwards 
against  the  Iconoclasts.  In  the  most  degenerate  times  he 
kept  virtue  in  countenance,  and  vice  in  awe.  He  was 
seconded  herein  by  that  illustrious  Father  of  the  Church, 
St.  John,  surnamed  Damascene^  from  the  city  of  Damas- 
cus, where  he  was  born  in  the  decline  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury. He  took  up  the  pen  in  defence  of  the  faith,  and 
zealously  entered  the  lists  against  the  Iconoclasts,  when 
he  saw  the  Church  assailed  by  them.  He  proved,  that 
the  inferior  veneration  which  is  paid  to  the  friends  and 
servants  of  God,  is  entirely  different,  and  infinitely  be- 
neath the  supreme  adoration  due  to  God  alone,  and  no 
more  inconsistent  with  it,  than  the  civil  honour  which  the 
law  of  nature  and  the  holy  scriptures  command  us  to  pay 
to  princes  and  superiors.  The  dogmatical  writings  of  this 
great  doctor  show  the  extent  of  his  genius  still  more  than 
his  controversial.  His  most  important  and  celebrated 
work  is,  The  Exposition  of  the  Orthodox  Faith^  divided 
into  four  books.  St.  Paulinus,  of  Aquileia,  wrote  three 
books  against  the  pestilential  errors  of  Elipandus,  and 
preached  with  great  success  to  the  Avares,  a  barbarous 
nation  of  Huns  in  Pannonia.  The  famous  Alcuin,  a  monk 
at  York,  wrote  seven  books  against  Felix  of  Urge],  and 
omitted  no  opportunity  of  exerting  his  zeal  in  defence  of 
the  faith.  His  comments  on  the  Scripture  consist  in  ex- 
tracts from  the  ancient  Fathers.  His  moral  works  breathe 
a  sincere  piety  ;  the  dogmatic  are  solid  and  close.  His 
letters,  of  which  there  are  upwards  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty-two  published,  are  curious  and  interesting. 

Venerable  Bede  was  "  a  singular  and  shining  light,"  in 
the  eighth  century,  as  Camden  calls  him,  and,  according 


236  HISTORY   OF   Tiu: 

to  Leland,  "  the  brightest  ornament  of  the  English  nation  ; 
"  most  worthy,  if  any  one  ever  was,  of  immortal  fame." 
He  was  ordained  priest  in  the  year  702,  by  St.  John  of 
Beverly,  bishop  of  Hexham,  and  afterwards  of  York.  In 
king  Alfred's  version,  Bede  is  styled  Mass  Pnest,  because 
it  was  his  employment  to  sing  every  day  the  conventual 
mass  in  the  Church  belonging  to  his  monastery,  which 
consisted  of  about  six  hundred  monks.  His  writings  are 
a  kind  of  Encyclopcedia,  or  universal  library.  All  the 
sciences  and  every  branch  of  literature  were  handled  by 
him  :  Natural  Philosophy,  the  philosophical  principles  of 
Aristotle,  Astronomy,  Arithmetic,  the  Calender,  Gram- 
mar, Ecclesiastical  History,  and  the  lives  of  the  Saints ; 
though  works  of  piety  make  up  the  bulk  of  his  writings, 
which  have  been  published  in  eigh%1;omes. — His  comments 
on  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  his  homilies  and 
sermons,  prove  that  meditation  on  the  Word  of  God,  and 
the  writings  of  the  holy  Fathers,  chiefly  engrossed  his 
time  and  attention.  He  wrote  his  history  of  the  English 
Church  in  the  year  731,  and  died  in  762,  ninety  years  old. 
The  famous  Alcuin  is  said  to  have  been  a  scholar  of  his, 
and  to  have  composed  the  following  epitaph  for  him,  when 
his  remains  were  deposited  in  St.  Paul's  church  at  Jarrow, 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Tyne  : 

"  Hac  sunt  in  fossa  BecUz  venerabilis  ossa."*^ 
Here  lie  the  bones  of  venerable  Bede. 

St.  Boniface,  who  calls  Bede  "  the  lamp  of  the  English 
*'  Church,"  flourished  also  in  this  age,  and  acquired  the 
title  of  Apostle  of  Germany.  Burning  with  zeal  for  the 
divine  honour,  and  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  he  bewailed 
night  and  day  the  misfortune  of  those  nations  which  lay 
benighted  in  the  shades  of  infidehty.  Going,  therefore, 
to  Rome,  in  the  year  719,  he  presented  himself  to  Pope 
Gregory  II.  and  having  begged  his  apostolic  blessing,  and 
commission  to  preach  the  faith  to  all  the  infidel  nations  of 
Germany,  he  was  constituted  archbishop  of  Mentz,  and 
laboured  with  such  fervour  that  he  baptized  many  thou- 
sands of  idolaters,  and  founded  several  respectable 
churches.  After  converting  the  Hessians,  Thuringians, 
and  Bavarians,  he  planted  the  standard  of  the  cross  in 
East  Friseland,  where  he  was  crowned  with  martyrdom 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  237 

in  the  year  loo,  with  fifty-two  priests  and  deacons,  who 
were  assisting  him  in  civilizing  and  planting  the  spirit  of 
meekness  and  Christian  piety  in  that  fierce  and  then  un- 
civilized nation.  St.  Corbinian,  bishop  of  Frisengen  ; 
St.  Willibrord,  first  bishop  of  Utrecht,  and  several  other 
apostolic  missionaries,  co-operated  at  this  time  in  the 
conversion  of  a  great  part  of  Holland  and  West  Friseland. 
St.  Virgiliiis,  also  a  native  of  Ireland,  was  distinguished 
at  this  period  for  his  devotion,  zeal,  charity,  and  sacred 
learning.  He  ti'avelled  into  France,  in  the  reign  of  King 
Pepin,  and  being  courteously  received  by  him,  he  laboured 
strenuously  for  the  conversion  of  infidels.  St.  Boniface 
wrote  a  complaint  against  him  to  Pope  Zachary,  alleging, 
that  a  certain  priest  named  Virgilius,  taught  that  there 
were  other  men  under  ikt^  earth,  another  sun  and  moon, 
and  another  world,  whereupon  Zachary  answered,  that  if 
he  taught  such  an  error,  he  ought  to  be  deposed.  But  St. 
Boniface  mistook  Virgilius's  opinion  about  the  antipodes, 
as  if  he  had  taught  that  there  was  another  race  of  men, 
who  descended  not  from  Adam,  and  were  not  redeemed 
by  Christ,  which  would  be  heresy.  However,  Zachary 
did  not  pronounce  any  sentence  in  this  case,  nor  condemn 
the  doctrine  of  the  spherical  figure  of  the  earth,  as  some 
writers  have  erroneously  imagined  ;  for  he  ordered  in  the 
same  letter,  that  "Virgilius  should  be  sent  to  Rome,  that 
his  doctrine  might  be  examined;  and  he  seems  to  have 
cleared  himself,  for  we  find  that  he  was  soon  after  pro- 
moted to  the  episcopal  see  of  Saltzburgh.  Many  ancient 
philosophers,  indeed,  thought  the  earth  flat,  not  spherical, 
and  believed  no  antipodes.  Tins  was  a  vulgar  error  in 
philosophy,  in  which  faith  no  way  interferes ;  but  it  is  a 
mistake  to  imagine  that  this  was  the  general  opinion  of 
the  Christian  philosophers,  for  St.  Basil,  the  two  St,  Gre- 
gories  of  Nazianzum  and  of  Nyssa,  and  St.  Athanasius, 
taught  the  world  to  be  a  sphere,  and  St.  Hilary,  Origen, 
St.  Clement,  Pope,  8tc.  mention  Antipodes,  as  the  learned 
Philophonus  demonstrated  before  the  modern  discoveries. — 
1.  3.  c.  13.  de  M.  Creat 


238  HISTORY  or  the 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

21ie  Church  of  the  Ninth  Ceniimj. 

THE  chief  pastors  of  the  Church  of  this  century,  after 
Leo  III.  were  Stephen  V.  St.  Paschal  I.  Eugenius  II. 
Valentine,  Gregory  IV.  Sergius  II.  St.  Leo  IV.  Benedict 
III.  St.  Nicholas  I.  Adrian  II.  John  VIII.  Marinus  I. 
Adrian  III.  Stephen  VI.  Formosus,  Stephen  VII.  Roma- 
nus,  Theodorus  II.  and  John  IV.  Stephen  V.  filled  the 
apostolic  chair  seven  months,  and  died  in  January,  817. 
The  day  after  his  death  St.  Paschal  was  elected.  He  sat 
seven  years,  and  died  in  February,  824.  His  successor, 
Eugenius  II.  governed  the  Church  three  years,  was  called 
the  father  of  the  poory  and  died  in  August,  827.  Valentine 
died  the  same  year,  on  the  fortieth  day  after  his  election 
and  consecration.  Gregory  IV.  died  on  the  29th  of  Ja- 
nuary, 844.  Sergius  II.  died  in  the  year  847.  St.  Leo  IV. 
was  elected  in  the  same  year,  and  held  the  pontificate 
eight  years,  three  months,  and  some  days.  He  repaired 
the  Confession^  or  burial  place  of  St.  Peter,  with  the  altar 
which  stood  upon  it  after  the  Saracens  from  Calabria  had 
plundered  St.  Peter's  church.  St.  Leo  likewise  enclosed 
the  whole  Vatican  hill  with  a  v/all,  and  built  there  a  new 
JRione,  or  quarter  of  the  city,  called  from  him  Leonhta. 
He  also  rebuilt  or  repaired  the  walls  of  Rome,  and  for- 
tified it  with  fifteen  towers.  Being  inilamed  with  a  holy 
zeal,  he  vigorously  exerted  his  authority  for  the  refor- 
mation of  manners,  and  of  the  discipline  of  the  Church, 
and  enforced  every  duty  of  the  pastoral  charge  with  no 
less  learning  than  piety.  Among  other  miracles  perform- 
ed by  this  holy  pope,  it  is  recorded,  that,  by  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  he  extinguished  a  great  fire  in  Rome.  Upon 
his  demise,  on  the  17th  of  July,  855,  Benedict  III,  was 
immediately  chosen,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
people,  and  consecrated  on  the  1st  of  September,  in  the 
same  year,  855,  as  is  attested  by  Anastasius,  the  Biblio- 
thecarian,  "the  most  learned  man  then  living,  and  the 
"  most  shining  ornament  of  that  age,"  according  to  Dr. 
Cave.  Some  prejudiced  writers  have  pretended  that  the 
scries  of  the  succession  between  Leo  IV.  and  Benedict 
III.  has  been  interrupted  by  the  intrusion  of  a  she  pope, 


CHtlRCH    OF    CHRIST.  239 

whom  they  culled  Joan.  But  this  is  an  idle  tale,  and  a 
most  notorious  forgery,  fabricated  after  the  death  of 
Martinus  Polonus,  who  in  the  year  1277  wrote  a  chronicle, 
in  vvliich  this  fable  has  been  since  inserted.  It  is  wanting 
in  the  true  manuscript  copy  of  Martinus  Polonus,  which 
is  kept  in  the  .Vatican  Library,  and  in  other  old  manu- 
script copies,  as  Allatius,  Lambelius,  Boerhave,  David, 
Burnet,  Carlew,  &.c.  testify.  Blondel,  a  violent  Calvinist, 
has,  by  an  express  dissertation,  demonstrated  the  falsity 
of  this  ridiculous  fable.  It  was  borrowed  from  a  chroni- 
cle which  Maurianus  Scotus  wrote  at  Mentz  in  1083,  and 
which  was  also  probably  falsified.  Here  mention  is  first 
made  of  it,  and  it  was  not  to  be  met  with  in  the  oldest 
and  best  copies  deposited  in  the  Imperial  Library  at  Vi- 
enna, and  the  royal  Library  at  Paris, ^until  it  was  foisted 
in  a  leaf  written  in  a  different  character.  Moreover,  the 
very  fi-amers  and  propagaters  of  tliis  tale  have  sufficiently 
discredited  it  in  their  own  narrations,  for  they  do  not  agree 
Hs  to  the  name  or  country  of  this  pretended  woman,  some 
saying  that  she  was  born  at  Mounts  in  England,  though  no 
such  place  was  ever  heard  of,  others  alleging  that  she 
sat  two  years  five  months,  and  that  she  had  studied  at 
Athens,  an  university  which  did  not  exist  then,  but  had  been 
destroyed  many  years  before.  Neither  Photius,  nor  the 
Greek  schismatics,  ever  objected  this  to  the  Latins,  for 
which  reasons  the  learned  agree  now  that  this  female  pope 
never  had  a  being  upon  earth. 

Benedict  III.  having  governed  the  Church  till  April, 
858,  was  succeeded  by  St.  Nicholas,  who  held  the  Pontifi- 
cate from  the  year  858  till  November,  867.  His  succes- 
sor, Adrian  II.  held  it  till  the  year  872.  John  VIII. 
being  then  chosen,  sat  till  December,  882.  Marinus  I. 
called  also  Agapitus,  died  in  884.  His  successor,  Adrian 
III,  died  in  885.  Stephen  VI.  died  in  the  sixth  year  of 
his  pontificate,  in  September,  891.  Formosus  died  iii 
896.  Stephen  VIT.  was  then  raised  to  the  pontifical  chair, 
by  the  power  of  Adelbert,  Marquis  of  Tuscany,  but,  after 
.sitting  about  thirteen  months,  he  was  imprisoned,  and 
strangled  to  death,  in  the  year  897.  Romanus  w'as  cho- 
sen pope  the  same  year,  but  dying  about  the  fourth  month 
after  his  election,  he  was  succeeded  by  Theodorus  II. 
who  sat  only  twenty  days.  John  IX.  was  then  canoni 
callj  elected,  and  died  in  August,  900. 


240  HISTORY    OF    THE 

The  succession  of  saints  and  ecclesiastical  writers  was 
kept  up  in  this  century.  St.  Theophanes,  abbot,  wrot« 
his  Chronographia  in  the  year  814.  St.  Nicephorus,  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Tarasius,  and  archbishop  of  Constantinople, 
wrote  several  tracts  against  the  Iconoclasts,  wherein  he 
also  most  evidently  establishes  the  real  presence  of  the  body 
of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist.  St.  Methodius,  patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  purged  that  Church  of  heresy,  and  insti- 
tuted an  annual  feast  of  thanksgiving,  called  the  festival  of 
the  Orthodoxy.  St.  Ado,  archbishop  of  Vienne  ;  St.  Nice- 
tas,  abbot  ;  and  St.  Benedict,  abbot  of  Anian,  lived  in  this 
age.  St.  Adalbert,  bishop  of  Prague,  converted  great 
numbers  in  Poland,  planted  the  faith  at  Dantzicj  and  is 
styled  the  Apostle  of  Prussia ;  St.  Prudentiua',  bishop  of 
Troyes,  was  one  of  the  most  learned  prelates  of  the  Galil- 
ean Church  ;  St.  Ludger,  bishop  of  Munster,  and  apostle 
of  Saxony  and  Westphalia,  converted  numbers  of  Pagans 
and  vicious  Christians,  founded  several  monasteries,  and 
built  many  churches  ;  St.  Eulogius,  of  Cordova,  then  the 
capital  of  the  Moors,  or  Saracens,  in  Spain,  who  tolerated 
the  Christian  Religion  there  among  the  Goths,  exacting 
only  a  certain  tribute  every  new  moon,  lived  also  in  this  age. 
The  writings  of  St.  Eulogius  breathe  an  infiamed  zeal  ai)d 
spirit  of  martyrdom.  The  chief  of  them  are  his  Histoy  of 
the  Martyrs,  called  the  Memorial  of  the  Mt.rlyrs^  and  his 
Apology  for  them  against  their  calumniators.  St.  Anscarias, 
archbishop  of  Hamburgh  and  Bremen,  distiniiiiished  him- 
self likewise  by  his  virtue  and  learning.  He  preached 
with  great  success,  first  to  the  Danes  ;  and  in  the  year 
830  he  planted  the  faith  in  Sweden,  ant!  in  the  Northern 
parts  of  Germany.  St.  Cyril,  with  his  brother,  St.  Me- 
thodius, who  obtained  leave  from  Pope  John  Vlll.  to  ce- 
lebrate the  hturgy  in  the  Sclavonic  tongue  (tom.  9.  Cone. 
Labbe,  p.  176,)  after  converting  the  Slavonians  and  Rus- 
sians, in  the  year  842,  were  instrumental  to  the  conver- 
sion of  Michael,  king  of  the  Bulgarians,  and  of  his  whole 
nation,  in  the  year  8Go,  as  Joseph  Assemani  testifies. 
They  afterwards  passed  into  Moravia,  and  baptized  the 
king  of  that  country,  with  a  considerable  part  of  his  sub- 
jects. St.  Frederick,  bishop  of  Maestricht ;  Haiitgarius, 
bishop  of  Cambray  ;  Amalarius,  bishop  of  Treves  ;  Ra- 
banus  Maurus,  archbishop  of  Mentz  ;  Haymo,  bishop  of 
Halberstadt ;  Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  and  a  pre- 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  ^4i 

late  of  great  learning,  whose  works  are  published  in  two 
volumes,  folio  ;  Welefridus  Strabo  ;  Anastasius,  the  Li- 
brarian ;  Remigius  of  Auxerre  ;  Jonas  of  Orleans  ;  Dun- 
galdus  ;  Bertharius  ;  Theodorus  Graptus  ;  Agobardus  ; 
Paschasius  Radbertus,  abbot  of  Corbie ;  St.  Swithin ; 
bishop  of  Wincliester,  Sec.  flourished  also  in  this  century. 
Malmesburj  affirms,  that  a  great  number  of  miracles 
were  wrought  at  the  translation  of  St.  Svvithin's  relics. 
The  learned  Lanfred  wrote  in  the  year  980  a  history  of 
this  translation,  and  of  several  miraculous  cures  wrought 
throujrh  the  saint's  intercesf^ion.  The  works  of  Rabanus 
Maurus  are  printed  in  six  tomes.  Whilst  he  was  abbot 
of  Fulde,  he  made  that  monastery  the  greatest  nursery  of 
.-science  in  Europe.  The  long  commentaries  of  Pascha- 
sius Radbert  on  St.  Matthew's  Gospel,  are  a  learned  and 
useful  work,  wherein  he  solidly  confutes  the  errors  of 
Gothcscale  the  Predestinaiian,  who  blasphemously  assert- 
ed, that  the  reprobate  were  doomed  by  God  to  sin  and 
hell,  without  the  power  of  avoiding  either.  He  also  wrote 
against  John  Scotus  Erigeiio,  a  native  of  Ireland,  axid  a 
subtle  sophist  in  the  court  of  Charles  the  JBald,  infamous 
for  many  absurd  errors  in  faith  and  philosophy,  particu- 
larly against  the  mystery  of  the  Real  Presence.  The 
most  famous  of  the  works  of  Paschasius  Radbert  is  his 
book  On  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  or  on  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  v*hich  he  revised  after- 
wards, and  dedicated,  in  (he  year  841,  to  king  Charles //ic 
Baldy  ^\ho  had  desired  to  see  it. 

St.  Theodorus  Stiidite  distinguished  himself  likewise  in 
this  age  by  his  sanctity  and  by  his  zeal  against  the  Icono- 
clasts: for  Leo  the  Armenian  becoming  Emperor  in  the 
year  813,  and  being  him!<e]f  an  Iconociast,  renewed  the 
war  against  lioly  images,  and  endeavoured  both  by  arti- 
fices and  open  violeiice  to  re-establish  that  heresy.  In 
814,  he  studied  by  crafty  suggestions  to  gain  over  the 
holy  patriarch  Nicephorus  to  favour  his  designs.  But 
St.  Nicephorus  answered  him:  *'  We  cannot  change  the 
*'  ancient  traditions  ;  we  respect  holy  images,  as  we  do 
"  the  Cross  and  the  book  of  the  Gospels."  For  it  must 
be  observed,  that  the  ancient  Iconoclasts  venerated  the 
book  of  the  Gospels,  and  the  figure  of  the  Cross,  though 
by  an  inconsistency  usual  in  error,  they  condemned  the 
like  relative  honour  witli  regard  to  holy  images.  The 
X 


242  HISTORY    OF    THE 

I 

Saint  showed.,  that  far  from  derogating  from  the  supreme 
honour  of  God,  we  honour  him  when  for  his  sake  we  pay 
a  subordinate  respect  to  his  angels,  saints,  prophets,  and 
ministers,  and  when  we  give  a  relative  inferior  honour  to 
sacred  vessels,  churches,  images,  and  other  inanimate 
things,  which  belong  to  his  service.  But  the  tyrant  being 
fixed  in  his  errors,  sent  St.  Nicephorus  into  banishment, 
and  intruded  into  his  see  one  Theodosius,  an  impious 
officer  of  the  court.  In  vain  did  the  Saint,  with  several 
holy  prelates,  entreat  the  Emperor  to  leave  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  to  its  pastors,  and  to  let  the  ecclesi- 
astical affairs  be  discussed  by  them,  as  being  the  compe- 
tent judges.  "  My  Lord,"  said  St.  Theodoi-us,  the  Stu- 
dite,  "  Do  not  disturb  the  order  of  the  Church.  God 
*'  hath  placed  in  it  apostles,  prophets,  pastors,  and  teach- 
"  ers.  Your  majesty  he  has  intrusted  with  the  care  of 
"the  state  ;  but  leave  the  Church  to  its  pastors."  "  For 
'^  these  eight  hundred  years  past,"  said  Euthymius  bishop 
of  Sardes,  "  since  the  coming  of  Christ,  there  have  been 
"always  pictures  of  him,  and  he  has  been  honoured  in 
"  them.  Who  shall  now  have  the  boldness  to  abolish  so 
''  ancient  a  tradition  ?"  Michael  the  Sttfmmerer,  who  after 
the  death  of  Leo  the  Armenian,  ascended  the  Imperial 
throne  on  Christmas  Day,  in  the  year  820,  was  engaged 
in  the  same  heresy,  and  persecuted  St.  Nicephorus,  who 
died  in  his  exile,  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Theodorus,  being 
about  seventy  years  old. 

The  origin  of  the  Greek  schism,  commenced  by  the 
usurper  Photius,  renders  the  life  of  St.  Ignatius,  the  holy 
patriarch  of  Constantinople,  an  interesting  part  of  the 
history  of  the  Church  of  this  century.  In  the  year  808, 
he  was  most  unjustly  banished  from  his  see,  and  Photius 
the  Eunuch  was  intruded  into  the  patriarchal  chair  by 
Bardus  Caesar,  uncle  to  the  young  emperor  Michael,  with- 
out even  so  much  as  the  formality  of  an  election.  Pho- 
tius, secretary  to  the  emperor,  and  master  of  the  horse, 
was  a  prodigy  of  genius  and  learning,  but  his  great  quali- 
fications were  debased  by  a  consummate  depravity  of  soul. 
He  was  the  most  cunning  and  deceitful  of  men,  and  a 
most  daring  impostor,  always  ready  to  sacrifice  every 
thing  to  an  unbounded  ambition.  Anastasius  relates,  that 
Avhen  St.  Ignatius  was  advanced  to  the  patriarchal  dignity 
in  the  year  846,  Photius  began  to  decry  his  virtues,  and 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  243 

disputed  that  every  man  has  two  souls.  St.  Cyril  of 
Thessalonica,  reproving  him  for  this  error,  Photius  re- 
plied, that  lie  meant  not  to  hurt  any  one,  but  to  try  the 
abilities  and  lojcic  of  Ijcnatius.  To  which  wretched  ex- 
case  St.  Cyril  answered:  '*  You  have  thrown  your  darts 
"  into  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  yet  pretend  no  one  will 
*'be  hurt.  How  great  soever  the  eyes  of  your  wisdom 
"  may  be  they  are  blinded  by  the  smoke  of  avarice  and 
"  envy.  Your  passion  against  Ignatius  has  deprived  you 
''of  your  siglit."  The  unjustifiable  proceedings  and  er- 
rors of  Photius  being  at  length  notified  to,  and  censured 
by  the  Apostolic  see,  he  broke  out  into  an  open  rebellion, 
and  gave  rise  to  the  Greek  schism,  which  was  founded 
upon  the  most  frivolous  pretences  and  notorious  slanders 
imaginable.  In  short,  Photius  Avas  condemned  by  the 
eighth  General  Council,  which  was  held  by  an  hundred 
and  nine  bishops,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Sophia,  at  Con- 
stantinople in  the  year  869.  The  legates  of  Adrian  II. 
presided  hereat,  and  the  schism  of  Photius  was  in  a  great 
measure  extinguished  at  his  death,  till  it  was  revived  by 
Michael  Cerularius  in  the  eleventh  century.  St.  IgnatiusT 
having,  after  a  long  series  of  severe  trials,  recovered  his 
dignity,  applied  himself  to  his  pastoral  functions  with  so 
much  patience,  charity,  zeal,  and  vigilance,  as  showed  his 
sanctity  and  experience  were  much  improved  by  his  suffer- 
ings. He  died  on  the  23d  of  October,  878,  being  near 
four-score  years  old. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Ilie  revival  of  the   Western  Empir'e,  6$c.  i)y   CJiarles  live 

Ch^eat. 

THE  piety  of  Charlemagne,  or  Charles  the  Great,  son 
of  King  Pepin,  was  a  subject  of  great  joy  to  the  Church 
in  the  ninth  century.  The  western  empire  which  had 
been  extinguished  in  Momylus  Augustulus,  in  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, was  revived  in  him,  and  raised  up  a^ain,  though  not 
to  its  former  splendour.  In  the  year  800,  on  Christmas 
Day,  he  was  crowned  and  anointed  by  Leo  III.  in  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Emperor  of  Rome,  and  of  the  West. 


244  HISTORY    OF    THE 

France,  Flanders,  Germany,  a  great  part  of  Spain  and 
Hungary,  arid  almost  all  Italy,  were  subject  to  him.  He 
Avaged  a  tedious  war  against  the  Saxons,  which  terminated 
in  their  conversion.  The  late  King  of  Prussia,  in  his  ele- 
gant memoirs  of  the  house  of  Brandenburgh,  tells  us,  that 
the  conversion  of  the  country  of  Brandenburgh  was  begun 
by  the  conquests  and  zeal  of  Charlemagne,  and  completed 
in  9^8,  under  Henry  the  Fowler,  who  again  subdued  that 
territory,  which  was  originally  inhabited  by  the  Sarma- 
tians,  the  most  savage  of  all  the  Northern  idolaters,  and 
such  strangers  to  the  elegance  of  temples,  that  they  adored 
tiieir  false  gods  under  oak  trees,  and  sacrijQced  prisoners 
taken  from  their  enemies  to  their  idols. 

Charlemagne  extended  his  conquests  along  the  coasts  of 
tlie  German  ocean,  us  far  as  Denmark.  He  conquered 
French  Gothia,  or  Languedoc,  quelled  the  seditious  at 
Rome,  and  restored  Leo  III.  whom  they  had  treated  with 
the  utmost  barbarity.  He  was  a  zealous  protector  of  the 
Church  daring  his  long  and  prosperous  reign,  and  left  no- 
thing mYdone  to  promote  the  happiness  of  his  people,  and 
to  extirpate  the  reigning  vices  of  the  age.  When  Desi- 
deriUs,  the  last  king  of  the  Lombards,  ravaged  the  lands 
which  king  Pepin  had  oiTereJ  on  the  Apostolic  ?ee,  Char- 
lemagne marched  into  lta;y,  defeated  the  forces  of  the 
Lombards,  put  an  end  to  their  usurpations,  took  Pavia, 
after  a  long  siege,  extiuguished  their  kingdom,  and  led 
Desiderius  captive  with  him  into  Gaul.  On  this  occasion 
he  was  crowned  king  of  Italy,  with  an  iron  crown,  such 
as  the  Goths  and  Lombards  in  that  country  had  used, 
perhaps  as  an  emblem  of  strength.  He  then  also  confirm- 
ed to  Pope  Adrian  I.  tlie  donation  of  his  father  Pepin, 
who  had  given  to  Stephen  II.  and  his  successors,  the  city 
of  Rome,  and  its  Campagna,  Rimini,  Pesaro,  Fano,  Sine- 
gallia,  Ancona,  with  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  the  duchy 
of  Spoleto,  &c.  But  as  this  point  of  history  is  much  mis- 
represented by  some  modern  writers,  in  order  to  set  it  in 
a  true  light,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  from  the  reign  of 
Constanthie  the  Great,  many  large  possessions  had  been 
bestowed  on  the  popes  for  the  service  of  the  Church, 
whereby  it  was  enabled  to  perform  many  acts  of  universal 
charity,  and  found  various  asylums  for  the  relief  and  sup- 
port of  great  numbers  of  wretched,  distressed,  and  indi- 
gent objects.     Maud,  or  Mathilda,  Countess  of  Tuscany, 


CHURCH  OF  Christ.  245 

bequeathed  Viterbo,  Aqua  Pendente,  Civita  Vecchia,  and 
a  considerable  part  of  her  dominions  to  the  Apostolic  see, 
now  called  The  Pahimony  of  St.  Peter.  Thomassin  1.  1. 
de  dis.  Ec.  c.  27.  tells  us  that  the  Alpes  Coftice,  including 
Genoa  and  the  sea  coast,  as  far  as  the  boundaries  of  Gaul, 
were  formerly  the  estate  of  the  Apostolic  see,  but  were 
seized  by  the  Lombards,  who  ravaged  and  conquered  that 
country,  and  spread  fire  and  desolation  over  the  territo- 
ries of  Rome.  On  this  occasion,  the  people  of  Italy,  in 
the  time  of  Gregory  II.  finding  themselves  absolutely 
abandoned  to  the  swords  of  these  barbarians,  and  being 
refused  the  protection  of  the  Greek  Emperors,  took  up 
arms  in  defence  of  their  lives  and  property,  and  chose  in 
many  places  leaders  for  themselves,  though  the  Pope  ex- 
horted them  every  where  not  to  revolt  against  their  law- 
ful princes,  but  to  remain  in  their  obedience  and  fidelity 
to  the  empire,  as  Anastasius  the  Librarian  assures  us. 

Stephen  II.  who  succeeded  Zachary,  had  often  in  vaiu 
implored  the  succours  and  protection  of  Leo  the  Emperor 
of  Constantinople,  against  Astulphus,  king  of  the  Lom- 
bards. Whereupon  he  went  to  Paris,  and  in  the  name  of 
the  Roman  people,  who  looked  upon  the  popes  as  their 
fathers  and  guardians,  he  sought  that  protection  from 
Pepin  King  of  the  French,  which  the  Greek  Emperor  had 
refused.  Pepin  sent  ambassadors  into  Italy,  requiring 
that  Astulphus  would  restore  what  he  had  taken  from  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  repair  the  damages  he  had  done  in 
Italy.  Astulphus  refusing  to  comply  with  these  conditions, 
Pepin  led  a  powerful  army  into  Italy,  defeated  the  Lom- 
bards, and  took  Astulphus  prisoner  in  Pavia,  but  gene- 
rously restored  him  his  kingdom  on  condition  he  should 
live  in  amity  with  the  Pope.  Immediately  after  Pepin's 
departure,  Astulphus  perfidiously  broke  his  treaty,  and 
took  up  arms  again,  which  obliged  Pepin  to  return  into 
Italy,  where  having  a  second  time  defeated  ayd  captured 
Astulphus,  and  having  threatened  him  with  death,  if  he 
ever  again  took  up  arms  against  the  Romans,  he  once 
more  restored  him  his  kingdom,  taking  from  him  the  ex- 
archate of  Ravenna,  which  he  gave  to  the  Apostolic  see, 
upon  a  principle  laid  down  by  PufTendorf,  Grotius,  Fon- 
tanini,  and  others,  and  founded  upon  the  law  of  nations, 
that  he  who  conquers  a  country  in  a  just  war,  no  ways 
undertaken  for  the  former  possessors,  nor  in  alhance  with 
X2 


^46 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


them,  is  not  bound  to  restore  to  them  what  they  would 
not,  or  could  not  protect  or  defend.  Hence,  when  the 
ambassadors  of  the  Greek  Emperor  demanded  of  Pepin 
the  restitution  of  the  countries  he  had  conquered  from 
the  Lombards,  that  Prince  answered,  that  as  he  had  ex- 
posed himself  to  the  dangers  of  war  merely  for  the  pro- 
tection of  St.  Peter's  see,  not  in  favour  of  any  person,  he 
never  would  suffer  the  Apostolic  Church  to  be  deprived 
of  what  he  had  bestowed  on  it.  Thomassin  observes  very 
justly,  that  Pepin  could  not  give  away  dominions,  which 
belonged  to  the  Emperors  of  Constantinople  ;  but  if  he 
had  conquered  the  Goths  of  Italy,  or  the  Vandals  iu 
Africa,  before  Justinian  had  recovered  those  dominions, 
who  will  pretend  that  he  would  have  been  obliged  to  re- 
store them  to  the  Greek  Emperors  }  Or,  if  the  Britons 
had  repulsed  the  Saxons  after  the  Romans  had  abandoned 
them  to  their  fury,  might  they  not  have  declared  them- 
selves a  free  people  }  The  Greeks  had  by  their  sloth  lost 
their  right  to  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  after  they  had 
suffered  it  to  be  conquered  by  the  Lombards,  without 
sending  succours  during  so  many  years  to  defend  and  pro- 
tect it.  Those  countries,  therefore,  either  by  the  right 
of  conquest  in  a  just  war  belonged  to  Pepin  and  Charle- 
magne, who  bestowed  them  on  the  Popes,  or,  the  Roman 
people  became  free,  and  being  abandoned  to  barbarians, 
had  a  right,  when  the  Greeks  refused  to  afford  them  pro- 
tection, to  seek  it  from  others,  or  to  form  themselves  into 
a  new  government.  The  Greeks  themselves  afterwards 
ratified  the  partition  made  of  the  Italian  dominions,  when 
Charlemagne  was  crowned  Emperor  of  the  West,  and  not 
only  Irene,  who  was  then  Empress  of  Constantinople,  but 
likewise  her  successor  Nicephorus  III.  solemnly  acknow- 
ledged him  in  the. quality  of  Augustus. 

Charlemagne  was  a  lover  and  encourager  of  learning, 
T)eing  sensible  that  it  is  the  highest  improvement  of  the 
human  mind,  and  no  less  conducive  to  the  good  of  religion 
than  to  the  welfare  of  the  state.  He  set  a  just  value 
on  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  placed  all  his  glory  in  pro- 
moting the  study  of  every  branch  of  true  and  useful  learn- 
ing. He  invited  over  into  his  dominions  the  two  learned 
professors  Clement  and  John,  from  Ireland,  and  men  of 
the  most  consummate  erudition  from  other  foreign  parts, 
to  become  teachers  in  the  public  schools  which  he  founded 


CUUUCII    OF    CHRIST.  247 

at  Paris,  Tours,  Bologna,  Pavia,  &c.  He  appointed  the 
celebrated  Alcuia  to  open  a  great  school  in  his  own  palace, 
and  generally  assisted  at  his  lessons  with  the  princes,  his 
sons,  and  other  lords  of  his  court.  By  the  advice  of  so 
wise  a  master  he  made  several  literary  establishments  for 
the  revival  of  the  sciences,  and  instituted  an  academy, 
consisting  of  many  learned  men,  who  met  on  certain  days 
to  discourse  on  points  oj  sacred  learning.  He  had  St. 
Augustine's  book  On  the  Oily  of  God,  laid  every  night 
under  his  pillow,  to  read,  if  he  awaked.  He  caused  seve- 
ral synods  to  be  held  for  the  advancement  of  piety'  and 
the  reformation  of  manners,  and  the  decrees  therein 
framed  are  called  his  Capitulars.  The  Carolin  books  are 
a  theological  work,  adopted  by  this  prince,  and  compiled 
in  four  books,  against  a  falsified  copy  of  the  second  coun- 
cil of  Nice,  sent  by  certain  Iconoclasts  from  Constantino- 
ple. This  accounts  for  the  mistake  of  the  Carolin  books, 
and  the  council  of  Frankfort,  an.  794,  can.  2,  concerning 
the  doctrine  of  the  Nicene  Council.  They  had  not  seen 
the  Greek  original,  but  only  a  Latin  and  vicious  transla- 
tion of  it,  which  occasioned  the  mistaken  opposition  they 
gave  to  the  decree  about  honouring  sacred  images.  At 
length  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  call  Charlemagne  to 
the  enjoyment  of  a  better  life,  in  the  72d  year  of  his  age. 
He  was  buried  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  After  his  death,  the 
imperial  dignity  was  transferred  from  France  to  Germany. 
It  was  conferred  first  on  Otho,  and  is  swayed  at  present 
by  the  august  house  of  Austria. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

jT/te  Church  of  the  Tenth  Century, 

THE  succession  of  chief  pastors  in  the  apostolic  see 
was  continued  in  this  age  by  Benedict  IV.  who,  after  the 
death  of  Theodorus  II.  and  John  IX.  governed  the  Church 
till  October,  903.  His  immediate  successor,  Leo  V.  did 
not  hold  the  pontificate  two  entire  months,  according  to 
that  verse  of  Flodoardus  :  Emigrat  ante  suuin  quam  tuna 
bis  impleat  Orbem.  Christopher  was  then  raised  to  the 
pontifical  chair  the  same  year   about  the  beginning  of 


^48  HISTORY  OP  THE 

November ;  but  being  compelled  to  abandon  it,  he  M'as 
sent  first  into  a  monastery,  and  afterwards  into  a  prison, 
where  he  ended  his  days.  After  him  the  pontificate  was 
occupied  seven  years  by  Sergius  III.  two  years  by  Anas- 
tasius  III.  six  months  by  Lando,  fourteen  years  by  John  X. 
seven  months  by  Leo  VI.  about  two  years  by  Stephen 
VIII.  and  upwards  of  five  years  by  John  XI.  who  was 
succeeded,  in  the  year  936,  by  Leo  VII.  of  whom  FIo- 
doardus  writes  : 

"  Deditus  assiduis  precihus^  spectdamine  celsus, 
^'  Affalu  IceluSj  sapiens  atque  ore  serenus.^^ 

Constant  in  prayer,  in  meditation  high, 
Remov''dfrom  earth,  and  tending  to  the  sky , 
Wise,  gentle,  humble,  cheerful,  modest,  kind, 
Grace  in  his  speech,  and  virtue  in  his  mind. 

Upon  the  demise  of  Leo  VII.  Stephen  IX.  sat  three 
years  and  some  months.  Marinus  II.  his  successor  sat 
about  four  years,  and  died  in  June,  946.  Agapetus  II. 
was  chosen  the  same  month,  and  died  in  the  eleventh 
year  of  his  pontificate.  Tlie  apostolic  see  was  then  suc- 
cessively occupied  by  John  XII.  Benedict  V.  who  died  in 
965,  John  XIII.  who  died  in  972,  Domnus  II.  Benedict 
VI.  Benedict  VII.  John  XIV.  John  XV.  and  Gregory  V. 
who  was  raised  to  the  pontificate  in  996,  and  died  on  the 
18th  of  February,  999.  Sylvester  II.  succeeded  him  in 
the  month  of  April  of  the  same  year,  and  died  on  the  1 1th 
of  May,  1003.  Some  writers  look  upon  John  XVI.  to 
have  been  an  antipope. 

This  age  was  indeed  happy  in  this  respect,  that  no  con- 
siderable heresy  arose,  or  was  broached  in  it,  for  which 
reason  there  was  no  occasion  for  general  councils,  nor  for 
so  many  ecclesiastical  writers,  as  in  the  foregoing  ages. 
Swarms  of  armed  barbarians  overran  Germany,  England, 
France,  Italy,  and  Spain,  carrying  desolation  with  them 
wherever  they  went,  pillaging  churches,  massacring  priests 
at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  burning  houses,  and  reducing 
cities  to  ashes.  Scandals  were  multiplied  ;  the  most  holy 
laws  were  publicly  violated  ;  studies  were  much  neg- 
lected ;  and  people,  devoted  to  the  profession  of  arms, 
looked  with  contempt  on  the  cultivation  of  letters.    Vir- 


J 


Church  of  Christ.  349 

tue,  of  course,  began  to  decay  among  the  generality  of 
Christians,  and  a  relaxation  of  morals  ensued,  and  reach- 
ed the  very  sanctuary.     Rome   itself  was  not  exempted. 
The   Church  bewailed  these    disorders,    which    were    a 
thousand  times  more   excruciating  to  her  than  the  perse- 
cutions of  the  Pagan  emperors.     Through  the  tyranny  of 
despots,  and  the   violence  of  contending  factions,  s^e 
few  bishops,  incapable  of  writing  their  names,  (perhaps 
about  six  in  all  Christendom)  are  said  to  have  been  in- 
truded on  diflierent  episcopal  sees.     By  the  power  of  the 
counts  of  neighbouring  territories,  and  by  the  intrigues  of 
Marozia,wife  to  Guy,  Marquis  of  Tuscany,  and  her  mother 
and  sister,  both  called  Theodora,  three  women  of  scan- 
dalous lives,  some  unworthy  popes  have,  by  unjust  usur- 
pation, and  not  by  canonical  election,  been  thrust  into 
the  apostolic  chah',  and  disgraced  their  high  station  by 
the  immorality  of  their  lives.     However,  as  the  wicked- 
ness and  usurpation  of  an  Alcimus  could  not  destroy  the 
Aaronic  priesthood,  so  the  immoralities  of  some  few  in- 
truders could   not  destroy   the  Christian  priesthood,  nor 
prejudice  the    spiritual   prerogatives  of  the    Church  of 
Christ.     His  Providence  appeared  the  more  remarkable 
ia  still  protecting  her  upon  such  occasions,  amidst  all  the 
.«candals  and  disorders  with  which  she  scemf^d  to  be  almost 
overwhelmed.     He  would  not  suffer  the  Devil  to  wrest 
out  of  his  hands  the  inheritance  and  kingdom  which  his 
Eternal  Father  gave  him,  and  which  it  cost  his  most  pre- 
cious blood  to  establish.     He  permitted  for  a  while  some 
vicious  men  to  sit  on  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  as  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  sat  on  the  chair  of  Moses,  but  his  singular 
Providence  always  interposed  in  defence  of  the  Church, 
to  let  the  world  see  that  nothing  could  make  void  his  pro- 
mises, and  that  it  is  his  all-powerful  hand  that  supports 
the  Church,  and  not  the  hands  of  men.     He  promised  to 
be  iDith  her  all  days  lo  the  consummaiion  of  ages.     He  pro- 
mised infallibility  to  the  great  body  of  her  pastors,  in  their 
public  doctrine,  but  he  has  no  where  promised  them  impec- 
cability in  their  conduct.     Go,  said  he  to   them,  teach 
all  nations:  Baptize   and  teach  them  to  observe  all  that  I 
have  ordained,  and  I  ivill  be  with  ye,  &c.     In  virtue  of  this 
promise,  he  is  always  with  the  pastors  of  his   church,  to 
guarantee  them  from  all  error  in  the  doctrine  of  faith,  but 
not  to  exempt  them  fvom  all  vice  ;  for  he  did  not  say,  as 


250  HISTORY    OF    TKE 

the  great  Bossuet  observes,  I  will  he  ivitfi  you  pracHsing  n\\ 
that  I  have  commanded,  but  J  will  be  with  ye  teachiufr. 
Hence,  to  show  that  the  mark  of  the  true  faith  was  at- 
tached to  the  profession  of  the  public  doctrine,  and  not  to 
the  innocence  of  their  morals,  he  said  to  the  faithful,  wlio 
are  taught.  Do  all  that  they  say,  and  not  what  they  do.     Jt 
is%vident,  therefore,  that  the  conservation  of  the  Church 
does  not  depend  upon  the   sanctity  of  her  pontiffs,  and 
that  their  misconduct  should  cast  no  more  aspersion  on 
her  than  the  fall  of  Judas  did  on  the  college  of  the  Apos- 
tles, or  the  rebellion  of  Lucifer  on  the  hierarchy  of  the 
angels.     The  fate  of  temporal  kingdoms  may,  indeed,  be 
attached  to  the  conduct  of  the  princes  who  govern  them  ; 
but  the  case  is  different  with  regard  to  the  spiritual  king- 
dom of  the  Church,  because  it  is  Christ  himself  who  sup- 
ports her  foundation.     His  infinite  wisdom  takes  care  to 
over-rule  the  infirmities  of  her  pastors,  and  to  make  them 
even  become  subservient  to  his  designs,  however  immoral 
some  individuals  may  happen  to  be  in  their  own  practice. 
He  will  never  suffer  the  Christian  morality  or  the  Catholic 
belief  to  undergo  the  smallest  alteration,  or  the  least  cor- 
ruption in  the  public  instructions,  but  will  ever  preserve 
the  doctrine   of  Verity  in  the  chair  of  Unity,  and  make 
the  streams  of  Faith  run  very  pure,  even  in  the  worst  of 
times.     There  never  was  an  instance  of  any  pope  who  at- 
tempted to  alter  the  creed,  or  who  taught  and  proposed 
any  bad  doctrine  from  the  apostolic  chair,  to  be  believed 
by  the  Church,  or  who  issued  any  decree  concerning  faith 
and  sound  morality,  that  was  contrary  to  the  sacred  truths 
revealed  by  Jesus  Christ.     Though  a  few,  out   of  the 
great  number,  have  not  been  so  irreproachable  in  their  pri- 
vate character  as  they  should  have  been,  and  though  they 
have,  at  times,  assumed  a  temporal  authority  that  did  not 
belong  to  them,  yet  it  is  remarkable  that  they  never  form- 
ed any  decree  on  this  point,  and  that  any  errors  into  which 
they  might  have  been  led,  were  no  more  than  mere  errors 
of  fact,  owing  to  a  misrepresentation  or  false  statement 
of  cases,  or  to  the  mistaken  poHtics  and  prejudices  of 
the  times,  that  were  then  sanctioned  by  temporal  kings  and 
princes  themselves. 

Some  writers  style  this  century  the  iron  and  dark  age, 
but  Bellarmine  reckons  up  between  two  and  three  hun- 
dred ecclesiastical  writers  in  those  days  of  darkness,  many 


cnun.cH  OF  cunisr.  2ol 

of  whom  were  as  eminent  for  their  holiness  and  learning  as 
the  ancient  writers  ;  amonj^  the  rest,  Simon  Metaphrastes  ; 
Hippolytus,  of  Thebes  ;  Eutychius,  of  Egypt ;  Constan- 
tins,  son  of  Leo  the  Wise  ;  Flodoardus,  of  Rheims  ;  Wi- 
tikindus  5  Liiithprandus,  of  Pavia  ;  Ratherius,  bishop  of 
Verona ;  Notherius,   bishop   of  Liege  ;  Odo,    abbot  of 
Cluni,  that  celebrated  nursery  of  learned  men  ;  CEcume- 
niiis  ;  Abbo  ;  Burchardus  ;  Lanfrid,  called  by  Leland  an 
ilhstrious  Doctor ,  &c.  flourished  in  this  age  of  pretended 
ignorance,  besides  many  other  learned  doctors  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Sorbonne,  founded  by  Charlemagne,  and  that  of 
Oxford,  founded  by  King  Alfred  the  Great,  in  the  year 
877,  upon  the  plan  laid  down  and  recommended  to  him 
by  the  holy  anchoret  St.  Neot     It  is  true,  indeed,  the 
study  of  the  fine  arts  began  to  be  generally  neglected  in 
tlie  West,  after  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.     With  it 
ducation  fell,  and  an  ignorance  of  the  belles  lettres  en- 
ued,  and  spread  itself  far  and  near.     The  learned  writ- 
gs  of  the  ancient  Romans  were  thrown  aside,  and  the 
atin  toDgue   degenerated    into    diverse  jargons,   from 
hich  ?>prung  our  modern  languages.     However,  the  arts 
nd  sciences  always  found  an  asylum  in  episcopal  houses 
nd  monasteries,  from  the  turbulence  of  war  and  rapine. 
"^hilst  men  of  the  world  were  employed  in  pursuing  a 
ilitary  life,  great  numbers    of  monks  were  occupied  in 
anscribing  the   works  of  the  ancients,   which  they  had 
scued  from  the  hands  of  the  barbarian  invaders.     These 
recious  monuments  of  antiquity  would  have  perished, 
ad  they  not  thus  taken  care  to  transmit  them  to  posterity. 
'hey  opened  public    schools  in  their  religious  retreats, 
here   men   of  studious  minds  were  instructed   and  im- 
oved  in  times  of  general  anarchy  and  violence.     And  if 
e  true  taste  of  literature  did  not  yet  flourish,  at  least  the 
udy  of  rehgion,  the  love  of  science,  and  a  zeal  for  im- 
irovement  did.     Every  well-informed  and  ingenuous  mind 
erefore,  instead   of  being   prejudiced   by   vague    and 
groundless  imputations  on  monastic  or  clerical  ignorance, 
^vill  remember  with  gratitude,  that  it  is  to  this  body  of 
iBnen  the  world  is  indebted  for  the  preservation   of  ancient 
Upterature,  and  that  they  alone  gave  such  cultivation  to 
letters  as  the  unimproved  state  of  science  admitted.     In 
short,  it  is  to  them  we  owe  the   revival  and  return  of  the 
sciences    and    fine    arts,    as  they   rekindled  the    feeble 


252  HISTORY   OF    THE 

sparkles  which  afterwards  cast  such  a  blaze  of  h'glit  all 
over  Europe. 

Several  zealous  pastors,  of  eminent  sanctity  and  learn- 
ing, rose  up  at  this  time  in  different  parts  of  Christendom, 
to  stem  the  torrent  of  iniquity,  and  to  reform  the  morals 
of  both  the  clergy  and  laity.  They  incessantly  inveigh- 
ed against  the  abuses  and  prevailing  vices  of  the  age,  an<l 
preaching  penance  with  wonderful  success.  They  held 
several  synods  in  order  to  repair  the  breaches  which  had 
been  made  in  ecclesiastical  discipline,  and  to  enforce  the 
observance  of  the  sacred  canons  of  the  Church,  They 
corrected  the  ignoiance,  stupidity  and  barbarism  of  the 
fiercest  nations,  and  diffused  a  rational,  virtuous,  and  holy 
temper  throughout  the  countries  where  they  preached. 
They  civilized  and  refined  the  minds  of  the  most  rude 
and  wild  people,  and  inspired  them  with  the  meek  spirit 
of  the  Gospel,  rendering  them  examples  of  mildness,  pa- 
tience, himiility,  and  charity.  By  their  apostolic  labours 
they  extended  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  in  Mnscovy, 
Poland,  R.ussia,  Denmark,  Gothland,  and  Swedeland. 
The  very  barbarians,  who  had  spread  themselves  over 
Italy,  Germany,  England,  &c.  became  children  of  the 
Church,  by  the  laver  of  baptism,  and  subjected  themselves 
to  the  sweet  yoke  of  the  Gospel.  The  Normans,  who 
had  ravaged  France  for  the  space  of  seventy  year*;,  were 
converted  with  Roland,  their  Duke,  and  baptized,  in  the 
vear  912.  The  Hun«;arians  were  conveited  in  the  vear 
1002,  by  the  means  of  St.  Stephen,  their  pious  king. 
Thus  Christ,  who  never  forsakes  his  Church,  made  her 
triumph  over  scandal,  immorality,  and  barbarism,  as  she 
had  already  triumphed  over  idolatry  and  here.<!y. 

The  succession  of  saints  was  kept  up  by  St.  Bruno, 
archbishop  of  Cologne  ;  St.  ^Adelbert,  bishop  of  Mugde- 
burgh;  St.  Wolfang,  bishop  ofRatisbon;  St.  Radbod, 
bishop  of  Utrecht  ;  St.  Dunstan,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury ;  St.  Sigefride,  apostle  of  Sweden  ;  St.  Ephege, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  St.  Ethelwold,  bishop  of 
Winchester  ;  St.  Oswald,  archbishop  of  York;  St.  Odo, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  St.  Birnstan,  bishop  of  Win- 
chester ;  St.  Berno,  institutor  of  the  monks  of  Cluni  ;  St. 
Gerard,  of  Toul  ;  St.  Hugerus,  of  Hansborough  ;  St. 
Maieul  and  St.  Odilo,  abbots  of  Cluni  ;  St.  Fulbert,  of 
Chartres  ;  St.  Rudefind,  of  Compostella  ;  St.  Romauld. 


t'HL'IlCH    OF    CHRIST.  2o3 

founder  of  the  Camaldulenses  in  Italy  ;  St.  Olaus,  king 
of*  Norway  ;  St.  Henry  II.  emperor  ;  St.  Wenceslaus, 
king  of  Bohemia  ;  St.  Harold  VI.  king  of  Denmark  ;  St. 
Nilus,  abbot;  St.  Adelais  ;  St.  Matildes  ;  and  St.  Gune- 
gunda,  who  being  falsely  accused  of  incontinence,  like 
the  innocent  Susanna,  cleared  herself  by  the  ordeal  trials, 
vv'alking  over  twelve  red-hot  plough  shares,  without  re- 
ceiving the  least  hurt  ;  for  ordeal  trials,  notwithstanding 
\  arious  prohibitions  of  the  Church,  still  remained  in  fre- 
•juent  use  in  several  places.  St.  Ulric,  or  Udalric,  bishop 
of  Augsburgh,  Nourished  also  in  this  age.  In  his  last  sick- 
ness he  caused  himself  to  be  laid  on  ashes,  blessed  and 
strewed  on  the  floor  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  in  which  pos- 
ture he  died,  amidst  the  prayers  of  his  clergy,  on  the  4th 
of  July,  973,  after  having  been  Bishop  fifty  years.  His 
sanctity  was  attested  by  a  ninnber  of  miracles,  and  he 
is  the  first  saint  that  was  solemnly  canonized  by  the 
Church.  Benedict  XIV.  tells  us,  1.  I.e.  7.  that  he  was 
canonized  by  John  XV.  in  the  year  993,  though  Suriu.s 
pretends  that  St.  Swidbert,  an  English  monk,  was  canon- 
ized by  Leo  III.  about  the  year  800.  Formerly  it  was 
ii.sual  for  bishops  to  canonize  saints,  or  to  declare 
ihem  such,  but  in  order  to  prevent  the  danger  of  abuses, 
this  has  been  reserved  to  the  mature  discussion  and  ap- 
probation of  the  apostolic  see,  which  never  proceeds  to  a 
solemn  canonization  of  any  saints  till  after  a  most  ri- 
gorous examination,  and  full  evidence  given  of  the  heroic 
virtues  which  they  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree,  and  of 
the  incontestable  miracles  wrought  by  their  intercession. 
This  double  testimony  of  heroic  actions  of  virtue  and 
of  miracles,  is  required,  before  any  one  is  enrolled  among 
the  saints.  Neither  miracles  suffice,  without  clear  proofs 
of  heroic  sanctity,  nor  the  latter  without  the  former,  as 
Benedict  XIV.  observes. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The  Church  of  the  Eleventh  Cenlury. 
!'HE  apostolic  see   was   fdled   by  John  XVII.  John 

IS    1 

Y 


XVIII.  Sergius  IV.  Benedict  VIII.  John  XIX.  Benedict 


254  HISTORY    OF    THE 

IX.  Gregory  VI.  Clement  II.  Damasus  II.  St.  Leo  IX. 
Victor  II.  Stephen  X.  Nicholas  II.  Alexander  II.  St. 
Gregory  VII.  Victor  III.  and  Urban  II.  After  the  death 
of  Sylvester  II.  John  XVII.  sat  only  about  six  months, 
and  John  XVIII.  five  years  and  five  months  :  the  latter 
died  in  May,  1009.  Sergius  IV.  died  in  August,  same 
year.  Benedict  VIII.  sat  eleven  years,  and  died  on  the 
6th  of  June,  1024.  John  XIX.  sat  nine  years,  and  died 
the  8th  of  November,  1033.  Benedict  IX.  being  ejected 
for  simoniacal  joractices,  and  Gregory  VI.  having  abdi- 
cated the  pontificate,  Clement  II.  was  then  elected  pope, 
and  died  on  the  1st  of  October,  1047.  Damasus  II.  being 
poisoned  after  a  short  administration,  his  successor,  St. 
Leo  IX.  died  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  pontificate.  Victor 
II.  died  in  Tuscany,  in  the  year  1057.  Stephen  X.  died 
on  the  1st  of  April,  1058.  Nicholas  II.  died  the  22d  of 
July,  lOGI.  Alexander  II.  governed  the  Church  eleven 
years  and  six  months.  St.  Gregory  V\l.  died  on  the  25th 
of  May,  1085,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  pontificate.  Vic- 
tor III.  died  in  1087,  and  Urban  II.  in  1099. 

In  the  course  of  this  century  the  Church  had  various 
'trials  to  encounter,  for  as  she  is  not  here  on  earth  in  the 
place  of  her  repose,  she  must  expect  to  be  almost  always 
disturbed,  either  by  heresy  or  by  schisms,  or  by  scandals. 
Berengarius  Scholasticus  of  Tours,  and  archdeacon  of 
Angers,  espoused  the  errors  of  John  Scotus  Erigena,  in 
the  year  1050,  and  openly  preaclied  against  the  mystery 
of  Transubstantiation  in  the  holy  Eucharist.  Lanfranc, 
archbishop  of  Canterbur}',  ascribes  his  fall  to  vain  glory. 
He  was  a  man  full  of  self-conceit,  and  a  lover  of  novelty. 
The  novelty  of  his  doctrine  immediately  alarmed  all  Chris- 
tendom, it  being  contrary  to  the  constant  belief  of  all  ages. 
Never  was  any  heresy  more  universally  condemned  :  it 
Avas  condemned  in  no  less  than  fifteen  councils.  We  have 
still  extant  the  excellent  writings  of  holy  bishops  and 
learned  doctors,  who  entered  the  lists  against  him.  Lan- 
franc wrote  an  excellent  confutation  of  this  heresy.  Guit- 
mund,  bishop  of  Aversa,  near  Naples,  published  a  learned 
work  on  this  subject.  Alger,  of  Liege,  wrote  also  an  in- 
comparable book  on  the  same  subject,  by  the  reading  of 
which  Erasmus  says,  his  faith  of  the  truth  of  that  great 
mystery,  of  which  he  never  doubted,  was  much  confirmed, 
and  for  this  reason  he  strongly  recommends  to  all  sacj'a- 


J 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  ^55 

mentariaus  the  perusal  of  these  three  treatises,  preferably 
to  all  the  polemic  writers  of  this  age.  St.  Leo  IX.  con- 
demned the  new  heresy  of  Berengarius,  in  a  council  as- 
sembled at  Rome,  in  the  year  1050 ;  and  Berengarius 
himself  solemnly  retracted  his  error,  signed  the  retractation 
with  his  own  hand,  and  having  kindled  a  fire  in  the  midst 
of  an  assembly  of  one  hundred  and  thirteen  bishops,  threw 
into  it  the  books  which  contained  his  heresy ;  so  that  it 
died  with  him,  until  it  was  revived  in  the  16th  century. 
Another  storm  was  raised  against  the  Church  in  the  East, 
by  Michael  Cerularius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  who, 
in  the  year  1053,  renewed  the  schism  of  Photius,  upon 
mere  frivolous  pretences,  and  by  his  artiiices  drew  into  it 
the  patriarch  of  Antioch  and  Jerusalem,  with  a  great  part 
iof  the  Greeks.  St.  Leo  exhorted  him  to  peace  and  union, 
and  composed  a  learned  and  ample  apology  for  the  Latins. 
He  sent  Humbert,  his  legate,  to  Constantinople,  to  vindi- 
cate the  Latins  against  the  exceptions  of  the  Orientals, 
and  prove  that  it  was  to  the  last  degree  extravagant  to 
pretend  to  ground  a  schism  upon  such  exceptions  ;  but  no- 
thing was  able  to  overcome  the  obstinacy  and  factious 
spirit  of  Cerularius  till  he  died,  in  the  year  1058.  The 
holy  pontiff  laboured  strenuously  in  the  West,  in  extir- 
pating simony,  and  the  incestuous  marriages,  which  many 
noblemen  had  presumed  to  contract.  In  fine,  he  w^as  in- 
defatigable in  his  labours  to  advance  the  service  of  God 
and  the  salvation  of  souls.  It  is  recorded  of  him,  that  he 
was  born  in  Alsace,  with  his  body  marked  all  over  with 
little  red  crosses,  which  was  attributed  to  the  intense 
meditations  of  his  pious  mother  on  the  passion  of  Christ. 
Miracles  which  followed  his  death  proclaimed  his  glory 
with  God. 

In  this  century  the  peace  of  the  Church  w^as  greatly 
disturbed  by  a  simoniacal  traffic  of  ecclesiastical  benefices, 
and  many  and  great  were  the  scandals  and  troubles  that 
sprung  from  this  shameful  abuse.  Several  councils  were 
held  by  the  pastors  of  the  church  for  the  restoration  of 
the  ecclesiastical  discipline  and  the  reformation  of  morals  ; 
decrees  were  made,  by  which  all  persons  that  should  be 
guilty  of  the  sin  of  simony,  were  declared  incapable  of 
receiving  any  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and  disqualified 
for  holding  any  benefice  whatever.  This  raised  great  mur- 
murs  especially  in  Germany,  where  Henry  IV.  who  sue- 


256  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ceeded  his  pious  father,  Henry  III.  surnamed  the  Black, 
was  filling  and  oppressing  the  Church  with  sinioniacal  pas- 
tors, and  conferring  its  livings  on  such  as  offered  him  the 
highest  price.  He  had  sucked  in  very  early  the  corrupt 
maxims  of  tyranny  and  irreligion,  and  was  flattered  by 
avaricious  and  ambitious  men,  who  found  it  their  interest 
to  indulge  him  in  his  passions.  Not  content  with  putting 
the  bishops  and  abbots  of  his  realm  in  possession  of  their 
benefices  by  the  sceptre,  or  Regalia,  according  to  the 
usual  custom,  he  claimed  and  usurped  a  right  of  giving 
the  investitures  for  cathedrals  and  abbeys,  by  the  Cro.-is 
and  Ring,  the  sacred  emblems  of  spiritual  power,  and  lie 
grievously  abused  this  pretended  right,  by  promoting  to 
ecclesiastical  dignities  persons  the  most  unworthy  and  un- 
fit. The  scandals  which  such  sinioniacal  proceedings 
caused  in  the  Church,  provoked  his  subjects  to  revolt, 
and  called  loudly  for  an  apostolic  zeal  in  the  chief  pastor ; 
wherefore  Gregory  VII.  called  Hildebrand,  who  sat  then 
in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  stood  in  the  breach,  and  laboured 
with  vigilance  and  fortitude  to  stem  the  torrent  of  iniquity, 
which  was  breaking  into  the  sanctuary  itself.  He  stirred 
up  all  the  zealous  pastors  rather  to  lay  down  their  lives, 
than  to  be  remiss  in  maintainin":  the  laws  of  God  and  his 
Church.  He  deposed  Godfrey,  archbishop  of  Milan,  and 
exconnnunicated  some  other  incorrigible  sinners,  who, 
growing  desperate,  attempted  his  life.  Baron  Holbf:rg, 
in  his  abridged  Universal  Hisiory,  (a  work  which  is  full  of 
fancour,  slanders,  and  mistakes,)  most  falsely  advances, 
that  during  the  contest  about  investitures,  Gregory  exposed 
ecclesiastical  benefices,  and  every  thing  that  is  sacred,  to 
jsale,  no  less  than  the  emperors  did  ;  whereas  it  is  noto- 
rious, from  the  couiu^ils,  epistles,  and  whole  conduct  of 
this  pontift',  that  the  vice  of  Simony  never  had  a  more 
:?:ealous  or  a  more  implacable  enemy,  Henry  IV.  finding 
him  index ible,  assembled  at  Worms,  in  the  year  1076,  a 
conventicip  of  simoniacal  time-serving  bishops,  who  pre- 
sumed to  depose  Gregory  from  the  pontificate,  and  whose 
mock  sentence  was  sent  to  him,  together  with  a  contume- 
lious letter.  In  short,  such  was  the  depravity  and  turbu- 
lence of  the  times,  that  a  schism  was  raided,  and  an  anti- 
pope  was  set  up,  by  name  Gullheii,  the  excomnumicated 
aichbishop  of  Ravenna,  and  called  Clement  III.  whilst 
Henry  entered  Ruuie  with  an  army,  in  1084,  and  besieged 


CHURCH    OP    CHRIST.  257 

Gregory  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo.  But  Robert  Guis- 
card,  Duke  of  Calabria,  obliged  him  to  retire,  and  the 
Tuscans  gave  his  army  a  great  overthrow  in  Lombardy. 
Gregory  being  thus  rescued  from  his  enemies,  retired,  for 
greater  safety,  from  Rome  to  Monte  Cassino,  and  thence 
to  Salerno,  where  he  died,  with  these  words  in  his  mouth  : 
I  have  loved  justice^  and  have  hated  iniqiiily  :  therefore  I  die 
in  a  strange  land.  In  the  midst  of  all  these  troubles,  the 
Church  had  the  consolation  to  behold  a  new  religious  or- 
der of  the  Carthusians,  instituted  by  the  great  St.  Bruno 
of  Cologne,  in  the  year  1084,  and  edifying  the  world  by 
the  sweet  odour  of  their  virtues,  and  the  sanctity  of  their 
lives.  The  most  pious  and  learned  Cardinal  Bona,  of 
whom  it  was  said  : 

"  Esset  Papa  bonus  j  si  Bona  Papa  for  el.'' "^^ 

Bona  a  good  and  learned  Pope  would  be. 
Were  he  exalted  to  the  Holy  See. 

Speaking  of  the  Carthusian  monks,  he  calls  them  "  The 
^'  great  miracles  of  the  world  ;  men  living  in  the  flesh  as 
*'  out  of  the  flesh  •,  the  angels  of  the  earth,  representing 
'•  John  the  Baptist  in  the  wilderness  ;  the  principal  orna- 
'^  ment  of  the  Church  ;  eagles  soaring  up  to  Heaven." 
Voltaire  himself  says  of  them  :  ''  the  Carthusians  entirely 
"  consecrate  their  time  to  fasting,  to  silence,  to  solitude,  and 
"  prayer  ;  perfectly  quiet  in  the  midst  of  a  tumultuous  world, 
''  the  noise  of  which  scarce  ever  reaches  their  ears  ;  know- 
"  ing  their  respective  sovereigns  no  otherwise  than  by  the 
"  prayers  in  which  their  names  are  inserted."  From  this 
epoch  is  also  dated  the  origin  of  the  Cistercian  order, 
founded  by  St.  Robert,  abbot  of  Molesme,  who  in  the  year 
1098,  began  to  build  a  monastery  in  a  place  called  Cis- 
fercium,  or  Ciieau^  an  uninhabited  forest,  covered  with 
woods  and  brambles  and  watered  by  a  little  river.  The 
Cistercian  order  within  fifty  years  after  its  institution  con- 
sisted of  no  less  than  five  hundred  abbeys  ;  which  number 
was  increased  to  eighteen  hundred  soon  after  the  year 
1200.  The  famous  houses  of  Sept  Fons  and  La  Trappe 
are  branches  of  this  order.  Some  are  seemingly  shocked 
at  the  extraordinary  austerities,  which  they  read  to  have 
been  practised  by  these  religious  men,  and  by  the  ancient 
hermits  in  the  desert. — ^What,  say  they,  has  the  kind  au- 
Y2 


-268  HISTORY  OF  the 

thor  of  nature  given  us  an  inclination  to  pleasure,  and  yet 
commanded  us  to  forego  it  ?  or  does  he  delight  in  our  pain  i 
The  advocates  of  self-love,  who  make  such  objections  to 
the  necessity  and  merit  of  mortification,  both  exterior  and 
interior,  seem  to  be  strangers  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ 
and  to  the  examples  of  his  apostles,  of  St.  John  the  Bap- 
tist, of  many  ancient  prophets,  and  other  Saints  both  in 
the  New  and  Old  Testaments,  which  are  a  standing  com- 
mendation of  this  spirit  of  mortification  in  the  servants  of 
God.  And  really  to  deny  the  utihty  and  necessity  of 
mortification  and  penance  would  be  to  destroy  the  whole 
system  of  Christian  moraUty.  Ever  since  the  corruption 
of  our  nature,  and  the  revolt  of  our  passions  against  rea- 
son, our  appetites  stand  in  need  of  a  severe  curb  ;  and 
without  frequent  denials  and  restraints,  self-will  and  the 
senses  become  headstrong  and  ungovernable,  and  refuse 
subjection.  God  has  therefore  appointed  the  mortification 
of  the  senses,  joined  with  sincere  humility,  and  the  more 
essential  denial  of  the  will,  to  be  the  powerful  remedy, 
and  a  necessary  condition  for  obtaining  his  victorious 
graces.  The  Gospel  frequently  inculcates  the  obligation 
of  it,  and  declares  that  no  one  can  be  the  disciple  of 
Christ,  who  is  not  crucified  and  dead  to  himself,  as  the 
s;rain  of  corn  must  die  in  the  p'ound  before  it  can  bring  forth 
fruit.  Though  God  therefore  has  annexed  pleasure  to 
many  actions  for  necessary  and  good  purposes  ;  and  though 
many  lawful  pleasures  of  our  senses  are  allowable,  and 
may  be  sanctUied  by  a  virtuous  intention,  yet  the  servants 
of  God  have  in  all  ages  embraced  with  prudence  and  fer- 
vour such  austerities  as  upon  mature  deliberation  seemed 
to  them  to  have  the  greatest  tendency  to  facilitate  the 
subjection  of  their  passions  ;  they  have  regarded  the  prac- 
tice of  voluntary  mortification  and  self-denials  for  the  love 
of  God,  as  helps  to  virtue  and  as  means  to  acquire  it,  and 
to  punish  sin  in  themselves  ;  not  that  they  placed  sanctity 
in  them,  or  measured  virtue  thereby,  as  adervise  or  brach- 
man  might  do,  nor  that  they  imagined  God  to  be  delighted 
with  their  pain,  but  with  the  cure  of  their  spiritual  mala- 
dies, as  a  mother  rejoices  in  the  health  of  her  child,  though 
not  in  the  bitterness  of  the  potion,  which  she  gives  him  to 
procure  it.  Neither  the  relaxation  of  disciphne,  nor  the 
corruption  of  morals  ever  was,  or  ever  will  be,  so  univer-^ 
sal,  but  there  have  always  been,  and  always  will  be  in  the 


m 


ciiUiicii  OF  cmiisT.  25^ 

Cliuiciij  emir.eiit  servants  of  God,  actuated  with  this  hea- 
venly spirit ;  for  God's  promises  can  no  more  be  defeated 
by  the  human  passions,  than  the  eternal  decrees  of  his 
infinite  wisdozn  can  be  obstructed  by  the  constant  vices 
and  folHes  of  mankind.  The  good  and  the  wicked  shall 
be  mixed  together  to  the  end  of  the  world,  "  for,"  as  St. 
Augustine  says,  '^if  wickedness  should  ever  become  the 
"  universal  practice  of  mankind,  how  would  it  be  true, 
^'  that  wheat  and  tares  shall  grow  together  till  the  harvest, 
"  since  in  that  supposition  there  would  be  nothing  but  tares, 
"  and  no  v»heat  at  all  ?" 

The  succession  of  saints  and  ecclesiastical  writers  was 
kept  up  in  this  century  by  St.  Peter  Damian,  bishop  of 
Ostia,  whose  works  are  printed  in  three  volumes,  and  by 
St.  Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  whose  writings 
are  pubhshed  in  three  volumes,  folio.  His  ascetic  works 
will  be  an  eternal  monument  to  show  that  he  was  one  of 
the  most  eminent  masters  in  the  contemplative  way.  In 
his  dogmatical  writings  he  adheres  close  to  the  fathers, 
particularly  to  the  great  Augustine,  and  he  is  regarded  as 
the  first  of  the  scholastic  theologians,  who  gathered  his 
doctrine  into  a  regular  system,  in  a  clear  method  and 
chain  of  close  reasoning.  It  was  rather  his  delight  to  be 
employed  in  the  exterior  exercises  of  devotion,  but  on 
public  occasions  he  was  obliged  to  enter  into  a  literary 
career,  and  take  up  the  pen  in  defence  of  the  Church. 
St.  John  Gualbert,  founder  of  the  religious  order  of  Val- 
Hs  Uinhrosa,  St,  Anselm,  bishop  of  Lucca  ;  St.  Hugh, 
bishop  of  Grenoble  ;  St.  Hugh,  Abbot  of  Cluni ;  St.  Maca- 
rius,  of  Antioch  ;  St  Wiltstan,  bishop  of  Worcester  ;  St. 
Osmund,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  St.  Godard,  bishop  of 
Hiklesheim  ;  St.  Walter,  abbot ;  St.  Anno,  bishop  of  Co- 
logn  ;  St.  Bernard  ;  St.  Gerard,  bishop  of  Chonard,  and 
apostle  of  a  large  district  in  Hungary  ;  St.  Ulfred,  in 
Su  edeland  ;  St.  Colman  ;  St.  Ivo  ;  St.  Edward,  King  and 
Confessor;  St.  Canutus,  King  of  Denmark;  St.  Stanislaus, 
bishop  of  Cracow  in  Poland  ;  St.  Margaret,  Queen  of  Scot- 
and;  St.  Emericus,  &.c.  ad#rned  the  Church  in  this  age. 
Lanfranc,  Guitmundus,Theophylactus,  Adelman,Humber- 
tus,  Hugh,  abbot  of  Cluni,  Bertholdus,Bonitius,  Herman- 
nus,  Albericus,  Radulphus,  Theoduinus,  &c.  flourished  in 
this  century.  Marianus  Scotus,  who  is  proved  by  Usher  to 
have  been  a  Scot  from  Ireland,  lived  at  this  period,and  hay- 


260  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ing  founded  a  monastery  at  Ratlsbon,  taught  both  sacred  and 
profane  learning  there  with  great  reputation.  The  afore- 
said Usher  testifies,  that  the  name  o£  Scotia  was  then  con- 
fined to  Ireland  alone,  the  better  part  of  North  Britain 
being  still  in  possession  of  the  Picts.  Ej^inard,  secretary 
to  Charlemagne,  expressly  denominates  Ireland  Hibcrnia 
Scotorum  Insula.  It  w^as  in  this  century  that  Guido,  a 
great  admirer  of  music,  and  a  monk  of  Arrezzo,  in  Tus- 
cany, in  1009,  invented  the  Gamut,  or  scale  of  music, 
consisting  of  the  six  notes,  Uty  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la,  which 
syllables  he  took  from  the  three  first  verses  of  the  hymn 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist:  JJt  queanl  laxis  resonare  fibris, 
&c.  St.  Ambrose  composed  several  hymns,  which  arc 
still  used  in  the  divine  office,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the 
first  who  established  the  custom  of  singing  hymns  and 
psalms  alternately  by  two  choirs  in  the  Church  of  Milan. 
He  had  learned  this  from  the  Oriental  Churches,  and 
from  Milan  the  custom  spread  to  a!ll  the  Churches  of  the 
West.  The  psalms,  and  several  sacred  canticles  in  the 
holy  scriptures,  authorize  and  recommend  this  religious 
custom  of  employing  a  decent  and  grave  music  both  in- 
strumental and  vocal  in  sounding  forth  the  Divine  praises. 
St.  Cecily  is  regarded  as  the  patroness  of  Church  music. 
St.  Gregory  the  Great  improved  the  plain  song,  which  is 
sung  in  unison.  St.  John  Chrysostom  elegantly  extols 
the  good  effects  of  sacred  music.  In  his  exposition  of  the 
41st  psalm  he  says,  that  the  fire  of  divine  love  is  kindled 
in  the  soul  by  devout  psalmody.  St.  Augustine  says,  that 
it  is  useful  in  moving  piously  the  mind  and  kindling  the  af- 
fections of  divine  love.  He  tells  us,  in  the  9th  book  of 
his  confessions,  c.  6.  that  when  he  was  but  lately  con- 
verted to  God,  he  was  moved  to  shed  abundance  of  tears 
by  the  sacred  singing  at  the  Church.  Soft  and  effeminate 
music  is  to  be  always  shunned  with  abhorrence,  as  the 
corrupter  of  the  heart  and  the  poison  of  virtue.  But  to 
sing  assiduously  the  Divine  praises  on  earth  in  a  decent 
and  grave  manner,  is  a  kind  of  novitiate  to  the  state  of 
the  blessed  in  Heaven,  and*truly  a  function  the  most 
sweet  and  comfortable  to  a  soul  that  loves  God.  .  By 
this  homage  of  praise  we  join  the  heavenly  spirits  in 
their  uninterrupted  songs  of  adoration,  love,  and  praise. 

Angels  and  z::e,  assisted  by  this  art, 

3Iay  sing  together^  iho^  ive  dwell  apart.  Waller. 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  JHV  261 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Of  the  Crusades  and  MUilar^j  Orders. 

THE  Crusades,  or  military  expeditions  under  the  ban- 
ner of  the  Cross,  were  undertaken  about  the  close  of  the 
eleventh  century,  for  the  recovery  of  Palestine,  or  the 
Holy  Land,  from  the  oppressive  yoke  of  the  Mahome- 
tans. The  kings  and  princes  of  Europe  were  alarmed  at 
the  rapid  progress  of  a  people  sprung  from  so  mean  and 
obscure  an  origin.  The  eastern  empire,  which  had  stood 
tirm  for  several  ages  after  the  downfall  of  the  Western, 
was  now  stripped  by  them  of  its  fairest  possessions  in 
Asia,  and  the  Greek  Emperor,  harassed  and  distressed 
on  every  side,  solicited  and  implored  the  assistance  of  the 
Latins  against  the  common  enemy  of  Christianity.  Si- 
mon, the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and  Peter,  a  famous 
hermit  of  Amiens,  after  making  a  pilgrimage  to  Pales- 
tine, represented  the  deplorable  situation  of  the  Christians 
residing  there  in  so  feeling  a  manner  as  to  excite  com- 
passion in  the  breasts,  and  draw  tears  from  the  eyes  of  a 
council  that  was  assembled  at  Clermont,  in  the  year 
1095,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  these  matters  into  serious 
consideration.  Pope  Urban  II.  was  so  sensibly  affected, 
tliat  he  engaged  the  princes  of  France,  Italy,  and  Ger- 
many, to  unite  their  forces,  and  to  march  to  therehef  of  the 
faithful  in  the  Holy  Land.  Their  first  expedition  was 
successful.  The  army  of  the  Crusaders  or  Cross  Bearers, 
amounting  to  six  hundred  thousand  foot,  and  one  hundred 
thousand  cavalry,  under  the  command  of  Godfrey  of 
Bouillon,  Duke  of  Lorrain,  accompanied  by  Hugh  the 
Great  ;  Robert  Duke  of  Normandy,  son  to  William  the 
Conqueror  ;  Robert  Earl  of  Flanders,  Stc.  arrived  in  Bi- 
tbynia,  in  the  year  1097,  and  having  vanquished  the  Sa- 
racens, took  possession  of  the  strong  city  of  Nice,  the 
royal  seat  and  capital  of  Soliman,  with  one  and  forty 
other  cities,  and  about  two  hundred  towns,  thirteen  thou- 
sand Christians,  and  about  two  hundred  thousand  Turks, 
being  slain  in  various  engagements.  lu  the  year  1098, 
the  Cliristians  took  the  city  of  Antioch,  and  the  ensuing 
year  they  besieged  and  took  Jerusalem,  though  it  was  de- 
feuded  by  a  garrison  of  forty  thousand  Saracens.     Here 


262  HISTORY    OP    THE 

they  established  a  new  kingdom  in  Palestine,  of  which 
Godfrey  was  unanimously  chosen  the  first  king.  Being 
presented  with  a  gold  crown,  he  refused  to  wear  it,  say- 
ing, that  he  never  would  wear  a  crown  of  gold,  where  the 
Redeemer  of  the  world  had  worn  a  crown  of  thorns.  A 
few  days  after  Godfrey  defeated  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  and 
the  Sultan  of  Babylon  (a  city  on  the  Nile,  out  of  the 
ashes  of  which  Grand  Cairo  rose,)  with  an  army  of  four 
hundred  thousand  foot,  and  one  hundred  thousand  horse. 
The  Latins  having  gained  so  many  signal  victories,  esta- 
blished four  principalities  in  the  East  in  a  short  time,  one 
at  Jerusalem,  a  second  at  Antioch,  a  third  at  Edessa,  and 
a  fourth  at  Tripoli.  Godfrey's  were  distinguished  from 
all  the  rest  by  the  good  order  which  they  every  where 
observed.  He  began  and  ended  every  undertaking  with 
the  most  edifying  acts  of  devotion.  For  a  proof  of  his 
extraordinary  strength  of  body,  William  of  Tyre,  a  most 
exact  and  faithful  historian,  relates,  that  on  the  bridge  of 
Antioch,  he  cut  a  Turk,  who  had  on  a  coat  of  mail,  quite 
asunder  across  the  middle  of  his  body  with  one  stroke  of 
his  scimitar  ;  and  clove  another  on  horseback  from  the 
head  downwards  to  the  very  saddle,  wounding  also  the 
horse's  back.  Another  time,  seeing  a  bear  going  to 
kill  a  poor  man  that  was  gathering  sticks,  he  rode  up,  and 
the  furious  beast  having  killed  his  horse,  Godfrey  seized 
him  with  his  left  hand,  and  with  his  right  thrust  his  sword 
into  his  belly  to  the  very  hilt.  During  a  sickness  of  five 
weeks  he  prepared  himself  for  death,  with  the  piety  of  a 
Saint,  and  the  true  fortitude  of  a  Christian  hero,  very 
different  from  that  of  a  Pagan  philosopher.  He  died,  to 
the  inexpressible  grief  of  the  Christians,  in  the  year  1 100, 
and  being  buried  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  the  follow- 
ing epitaph  was  engraved  on  his  tomb: 

Francorum  Gentis  Sion  loca  sanda  pefcnfis, 
Minjicum  Sklus,  Dux  hie  recuhat  Goihofridus . 

Here  lies ^  from  native  land  removed  afar, 
Godfrey  the  Great,  the  shinins;  western  star. 
France  boasts  his  birth,  the  Christian  world  his  jmins, 
And  conquered  Sion  guards  his  last  remains. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Baldwin,  who,  aided 
bv  the  Genoese,  took  Ptolemais  in  the  year  1104,  and 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  263 

several  othev  cities  in  1109.  His  successor  Baldwin  II 
gained  several  advantages  over  the  Saracens,  but  was  de- 
feated and  taken  prisoner  in  1120,  by  the  Sultan  Barac. 
He  recovered  his  liberty  the  following  year,  when  three 
thousand  Christians  routed  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  Sa- 
racens. The  V^enetians  also  gained  two  complete  victo- 
ries over  the  Saracen  fleet,  about  the  same  time,  and  took 
possession  of  the  great  and  strong  city  of  Tyre.  Barac 
the  Turkish  Sultan  was  conquered  afterwards  and  put  to 
death  at  Aleppo,  by  Joscelin,  and  Baldwin  reduced  the 
city  of  Apamea  in  the  year  1126.  The  cities  of  Alexan- 
dria, Ascalon,  and  Damietta,  fell  likewise  into  the  hands 
of  the  Christians  ;  but  jealousies,  dissensions,  and  animo- 
sities arising  amongst  them,  their  affairs  in  the  East  took 
a  quite  different  turn,  and  the  Holy  Land  was  in  imminent 
danger  of  being  re-taken  by  the  Infidels. 

A  second  Crusade  was  therefore  preached  up  all  over 
France  and  Germany  with  such  amazing  success,  that  in 
the  year  1147  Conrad  the  Emperor  and  Lewis  VII.  sur- 
nanicd  the  Yoimg-,  King  of  France,  marched  towards 
Greece  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  cavalry,  with  coats  of  mail,  exclusive  of  the  light 
liorse  and  infantry,  which  was  almost  innumerable.  But 
the  greater  part  of  them  perished  in  the  deserts  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  after  some  unsuccessful  attempts,  the  scattered 
remains  returned  to  Europe.  Saladin,  Sultan  of  Egypt, 
at  the  head  of  fifty  thousand  Saracens,  discomfited  the 
Christian  army  in  the  year  1187.  Guy  ofLusignan, 
King  of  Jerusalem,  w^as  then  taken  prisoner,  and  the 
Knights  Templars  and  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  were  al- 
most all  cut  to  pieces.  After  this  signal  victory,  nothing 
could  stop  the  progress  of  Saladin's  arms,  almost  every 
city  opening  its  gates  to  the  conqueror.  He  laid  siege  to 
Jerusalem,  and  took  it  the  same  year,  on  the  second  of 
October,  the  eighty-eighth  year  after  it  had  been  subdued 
by  the  Christians.  Thus  what  Christian  charity  and  the 
humility  of  the  Cross  had  gained,  was  soon  lost  by  discord, 
pride,  and  ambition.  Cuncordia  res  'parvm  crescimt,  dis- 
cordia  magnce  dilabuntur.  There  only  remained  now  in 
the  hands  of  the  Latins  three  considerable  cities  in  Pales- 
tine: Antioch,  Tyre,  and  Tripoh. 

The  Emperor  Frederick  Barharossa^  or  Red  Beard, 
set  out  for  the  East  in  1188,  but  when  Ire  drew  near  Sy- 


264  HISTORY  OF  THE 

ria,  going  one  day  to  swim  for  his  diversion,  the  rapid 
stream  carried  him  away  in  the  current,  and  he  was 
drowned,  as  is  thought,  in  the  river  Cydnus,  where  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  benumbed  by  the  coldness  of  the  water, 
bad  like  to  have  perished.  The  news  of  all  these  sad  disas- 
ters spread  such  consternation  all  over  the  West,  that  in 
the  year  1 191,  a  third  crusade  was  set  on  foot  by  Richard 
I.  siirnamed  Heart  of  Lion,  son  of  Henry  II.  king  of  En- 
gland, and  by  Philip  Augustus  of  France,  who  were  then 
at  war  with  each  other,  but  forgot  their  particular  dis- 
putes for  the  common  good  of  Christianity.  In  order  to 
shun  the  treachery  of  the  Greeks,  they  embarked  at 
Marseilles,  with  two  powerful  armies,  and  set  sail  for 
Palestine.  When  they  arrived  they  captured  the  strong 
city  of  Acre,  or  Aeon,  on  the  sea  coast  of  Palestine,  an- 
ciently called  Ptolcmais,  which  the  Christians  had  then 
been  besieging  for  three  years  under  the  command  of  Guy 
of  Lusignan,  the  expelled  king  of  Jerusalem.  Philip  be- 
ing obliged,  for  the  recovery  of  his  health,  to  return  to 
Europe,  Richard  staid  a  year  longer  in  Palestine.  In  the 
interim  he  defeated  Saladin  in  a  great  battle,  and  con- 
cluded a  truce  with  him  on  favourable  conditions.  Before 
he  returned  home  with  his  troops,  he  sold  the  island  of 
Cyprus  to  Guy  of  Lusignan,  whose  posterity  reigned  there 
afterwards  for  the  space  of  three  hundred  years. 

In  the  year  119o,  a  fourth  crusade  was  undertaken  by 
a  great  number  of  French  and  Itahan  gentlemen,  assem- 
bled at  Venice,  under  the  command  of  the  Marquis  of 
Montserrat,  and  Baldwin,  earl  of  Flanders.  The  republic 
of  Venice  engaged  to  supply  them  with  ships  to  convey 
them  into  Palestine.  It  also  equipped  fifty  gallies  for  the 
use  of  five  hundred  Italian  nobles,  who  wished  to  embark 
on  the  same  expedition.  When  all  things  were  in  readi- 
ness, and  the  crusaders  were  only  waiting  for  favourable 
weather,  young  Alexis,  son  of  Isaac  Angelus,  the  Emperor 
of  Constantinople,  arrived  at  Venice  and  solicited  the  aid 
of  the  Latins  in  favour  of  his  father,  who  was  then  de- 
throned, and  closely  imprisoned  by  an  usurper,  who  had 
put  out  his  eyes.  Alexis  promised  to  re-establish  an  union 
between  the  Latin  and  Greek  Church,  to  facilitate  the 
conquest  of  the  Holy  Land,  to  maintain  during  his  life 
500  knights  there  for  its  defence,  and  to  furnish  the  Latins 
with  two  hundred  thousand  marks  of  silver,  and  with  pro- 


I 


ClIURCU    OF    CHRIST.  265 

visions  for  a  year.  These  offers  appeared  too  advanta- 
geous to  be  rejected,  (hough  the  minds  of  the  crusaders 
were  thereby  aUenated  from  their  first  plan.  Instead  of 
directing  their  course  towards  Palestine,  they  sailed  for 
Constantinople,  and  upon  their  arrival,  the  usurper  fled, 
and  young  Alexis  was  crowned  emperor.  But  he  was 
shortly  after  assassinated  by  one  of  his  officers,  who  seized 
on  the  Imperial  throne.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
crusaders  held  a  council  to  deliberate  on  what  was  to  be 
done,  and  believing  themselves  authorized  to  avenge  the 
death  of  the  prince  whom  they  had  taken  under  their  pro- 
tection, they  attacked  the  city  of  Constanstinople,  and 
having  taken  it  on  the  12th  of  .April,  1204,  they  aban- 
doned it  to  the  pillage  of  the  soldiery.  Albthe  authority 
of  their  leaders  was  not  sufficient  to  bridle  their  licen- 
tiousness, which  carried  them  to  the  greatest  excesses. 
These  excesses  inspired  the  Greeks  with  such  a  violent 
aversion  against  the  Latins,  that  we  may  date  from  the 
epoch  of  this  conquest,  the  entire  rapture  and  complete 
schism  between  the  Latin  and  Greek  Church.  The  cru- 
saders, on  thus  becoming  masters  of  Constantinople,  re- 
solved to  establish  there  one  from  among  themselves  in 
ijaality  of  Emperor.  The  choice  fell  upon  Baldwin  Earl 
of  Flanders,  whose  virtues  were  highly  extolled  even  by 
the  Greeks  themselves.  He  was  crowned  with  great  so- 
lemnity in  the  Church  of  St.  Sophia,  and  took  the  title 
and  ornt-ments  of  the  Emperor  of  the  East.  He  reigned 
but  one  year,  for  lie  was  taken,  confined  in  a  prison  six- 
teen months,  and  put  to  death  in  a  cruel  manner  by^  the 
King  of  the  Bulgarians  in  the  year  1205.  His  brother 
Henry  having  succeeded  him,  the  Latin  noblemen  entirely 
abandoned  the  expedition,  for  which  they  had  first  taken 
up  arms,  and  began  to  extend  their  conquests  in  Greece, 
and  reduced  to  their  obedience  almost  all  the  provinces 
that  belonged  to  the  Greek  Eniperor  in  Europe.  But  ia 
about  fifty  years  after  the  corupiest  of  the  Latins,  the 
Greeks,  who  were  settled  atTrebisond,Nice,and  Adriano- 
ple,  found  means  to  recover  Constantinople,  and  to  re- 
place on  the  Imperial  throne  Michael  Palcelogus,  of  the 
family  of  their  ancient  Emperors. 

John  of  Brienne  landed  in  E^jypt  in  the  year  1221,  with 
an  army  of  seventy  thousand  men,  took  Damietta,  and 
besieged  Grand  Cairo,  but  lost  the  greatest  part  of  his 
Z 


266  HISTORY  or  the 

troops  by  sickness,  want  of  provisions,  and  by  a  very  bigh 
flood  of  the  Nile.  Frederick  II.  son  and  successor  of 
Henry  VI.  in  the  Empire  of  Germany,  sailed  also  with  an 
army  to  Acre,  in  ]228,  and  made  a  truce  with  the  Ma- 
hometans, for  ten  years,  on  being  crowned  king  of  Jeru- 
salem. About  the  year  1240,  Richard,  the  brave  Earl  of 
Cornwall,  brother  to  Henry  III.  King  of  England,  arrived 
in  Palestine  with  an  English  crusade.  St.  Lewis  king  of 
France,  undertook  two  criisades,  one  in  the  year  1248, 
and  another  in  1270.  The  Mariner's  compass  is  thought 
to  have  been  made  use  of  in  this  crusade,'  St.  Lewis  in 
his  first  expedition  having  taken  the  Onflammey  or  royal 
standard,  so  called  froni  its  being  of  a  red,  or  flame  co- 
lour, sailed  to  Cyprus  with  a  fleet  of  120  great  vessels, 
and  1650  small  ones,  carrying  on  board  12,800  French, 
English,  and  Cypriot  knights,  and  above  60,000  chosen 
soldiers.  William  Earl  of  Salisbury,  surnamed  Liono- 
Sword,  brought  to  St.  Lewis  in  Cyprus  200  gallant  En- 
glish knights.  The  Sultan  of  Egypt  employed  spies  to 
destroy  the  large  magazines,  and  to  poison  the  victualling 
houses  of  the  Christian  army  in  Cyprus,  but  they  were 
discovered  and  confessed  the  fact.  This  crusade  ended 
in  the  taking  of  Damietta  from  the  Saracens,  and  in  the 
second  St.  Lewis  died  of  a  dysentery.  His  death  struck 
a  damp  upon  the  spirits  of  the  Christians  in  the  East. 
However,  though  this  crusade  failed  of  success,  it  was 
some  check  to  the  progress  of  the  Saracens'  arms.  The 
Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  Edward  I.'  king  of  England, 
was  the  last  support  of  the  Christians  in  Palestine,  He 
sailed  from  Sicily  in  the  year  1271,  and  after  plundering 
Antioch,  and  taking  Jaffa  and  Nazareth,  was  obliged  to 
return  in  1271,  upon  the  death  of  his  father,  Plenry  III. 
The  Christians  were  then  dispossessed  of  all  the  places 
that  remained  in  their  hands  in  Palestine.  Damietta  was 
destroyed  by  the  Saracen  army,  a  vast  number  of  Chris- 
tians were  put  to  death,  and  750  of  their  ships  were  burnt. 
Seventeen  thousand  Christians  were  killed  at  Antioch,  and 
one  hundred  thousand  were  led  into  captivity  by  Bendoc- 
dar,  the  Sultan's  general. 

In  the  years  1289  and  1291  the  Sultan  seized  on  Tripoli, 
Tyre,  and  Ptolemais,  or  Acre,  where  twenty-five  thousand 
Christians  were  put  to  the  sword,  and  twenty  thousand  made 
captives.  Thus,  in  the  year  1291,  the  kingdom  of  the  Chris- 


cjiuncii  OF  CHRIST.  267 

tians  ill  Syria,  was  entirely  overthrown.  It  is  computed, 
that  from  the  year  1095,  when  the  Crusades  began,  unto 
the  year  129 1,  about  two  milhoiis  of  Christians  perished 
in  those  expeditions,  which  employed  Europe  for  almost 
two  hundred  years.  Many  things  were  great  obstacles 
to  the  success  of  these  military  enterprises  ;  such  as 
the  distance  of  countries  ;  the  difference  of  climates  ; 
the  excessive  heats,  and  the  scarcity  of  provisions,  which 
occasioned  malignant  fevers,  dysenteries,  and  pestilential 
diseases  ;  the  repeated  treacheries  of  the  Greeks,  who  led 
the  Latins  into  ambuscades  ;  the  mixture  of  different  na- 
tions ;  the  feudal  jurisdiction  in  the  Christian  armies  ;  the 
opposite  views  and  clashinq;  interests  of  particulars  ;  the 
want  of  military  subordination  and  obedience,  &.c.  Some 
engaged  not  through  motives  of  religion,  charity,  and 
compassion  for  the  suiferlngs  of  their  brethren  in  the  East, 
but  with  views  altogether  worldly  and  seliish.  Some  were 
led  by  no  other  motives  than  the  prospect  of  rapine  and 
plunder,-  and  they  committed  great  disorders  in  their 
march.  Others  went  merely  to  screen  themselves  from 
public  justice,  and  from  their  lawful  creditors.  Others 
were  actuated  by  the  passions  of  ambition,  vanity,  avarice, 
jealousy,  anger  and  revenge,  which  often  have  a  great 
share  in  wars.  Such  armies  were  so  far  from  being  proper 
instruments  to  avert  the  scourges  of  an  angry  God,  that 
the  disorders  committed  by  them  w^ere  sufficient  to  occa- 
sion the  misfortunes  and  trials  that  fell  on  those  who  were 
conducted  by  motives  of  rehgion,  charity,  and  penance, 
for  the  exercise  of  their  virtue.  It  is  no  wonder  then  that 
the  finger  of  God  was  often  visible  in  punishing  and  chas- 
tising the  crusaders,  since  they  drew  the  wrath  of  Heaven 
upon  themselves  by  their  sins,  like  unto  the  Children  of 
Israel,  who  were  frequently  punished  in  the  desert,  and 
excluded  from  the  Land  of  Promise,  on  account  of  their 
manifold  transgressions.  Voltaire's  History  of  the  Cru- 
sades is  more  superficial,  if  possible,  than  his  other  histo- 
rical performances,  in  which  a  blaze  of  empty  wit  was 
the  author's  chief  aim  and  ambition.  To  give  a  satisfac- 
tory account  of  events,  or  an  inquiry  after  truth,  are  sel- 
dom any  part  of  his  concerns,  and  the  reflections  which 
he  intersperses  are  frequently  false,  and  have  the  most 
impious  and  pernicious  tendency. 

The  cmsades  gave  rise  to  some  military  orders,  the  most 


268  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ancient  of  which  was  thaf  of  the  Knights  Hospitalers  of 
St.  John,  which  subsists  to  this  day,  under  the  name  of 
the  Knights  of  Malta.  The  fust  house  of  this  celebrated 
order  was  an  hospital  founded  in  Jerusalem,  in  the  year 
1098,  by  certain  merchants  of  Amalphi,  in  the  kingdom 
of  Naples,  who  trading  in  the  Levant,  obtained  leave  of 
the  caliphs  of  the  Saracens,  on  paying  an  annual  tribute, 
to  builil  a  house  for  themselves,  and  for  the  reception  of 
pilgrims  who  came  to  visit  the  Holy  Land.  Soon  af^er 
they  founded  a  church  there,  in  honour  of  St.  John  Bap- 
tist, with  an  hospital  for  the  relief  of  sick  pilgrims,  from 
w  hich  they  took  their  narhe.  In  process  of  time  they  took 
up  arms  to  defend  the  Christians  from  the  insults  of  the 
Infidels,  and  to  secure  the  pusses  into  Palestine.  They 
performed  prodigies  of  valour  on  several  occasions,  par- 
licularly  in  the  year  1310,  at  Rhode  Island,  from  whence 
they  afterwards  withdrew  to  the  Island  of  Malta,  the  sove- 
reignty of  which  was  granted  to  them  by  the  emperor 
Charles  V.  They  wear  for  their  bandage  a  cross  with 
eight  points.  The  Teutonic  order  of  knights  was  founded 
after  the  model  of  St.  John's  of  Jerusalem.  They  were 
to  be  of  a  noble  race,  to  defend  the  Holy  Land,  and  to 
be  hospitable  to  German  pilgrims  of  their  own  country. 
These  knights  behaved  gallantly  at  the  taking  of  Ptole- 
mais,  or  Acre,  in  the  year  1291.  The  Knights  Templars, 
so  called  from  an  house  given  to  them  near  the  place 
where  formerly  stood  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  were  insti- 
tuted in  the  year  1118,  and  in  about  191  years  after  their 
establishment  they  were  persecuted  by  king  Philip  the 
Fair,  and  entirely  suj)pressed  by  Pope  Clement  V,  in  the 
year  131'2.  The  year  following,  the  Grand  Master,  who 
was  a  Frenchman,  was  burnt  at  Paris,  and  several  others 
suffered  death,  though  they  all,  with  their  last  breath, 
protested  their  innocence  as  to  the  crimes  that  were  laid 
to  their  charge.  These  were  certainly  much  exaggeiated 
by  their  enemies,  and  doubtless  many  innoreut  men  were 
involved  Avith  the  guilty.  A  great  part  of  their  estates  was 
given  to  the  Knights  of  Rhodes^  or  Malta. 


CnuJRCH    OP    CHRIST.  ^69 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

The  Church  of  the  Twelfth  Century 

THE  chief  pastors  of  the  Church  in  this  age,  after  the 
demise  of  Urban  II.  were  Paschal  II.  who  died  in  the  year 
1118;  Gelasius  II.  who  died  in  1119;  CaHxtus  II.  who 
died  in  1124  ;  Honorius  II.  who  died  in  the  sixth  year  of 
his  pontificate ;  Innocent  II.  who  died  in  1 143  ;  Celestine 
II.  who  died  in  the  sixth  month  after  his  election  ;  Lucius 
II.  who  governed  the  Church  but  two  months  ;  St.  Euge- 
nius  III.  a  disciple  of  St.  Bernard,  who  sat  upwards  of 
eight  years  ;  Anastasius  IV.  who  died  in  1 154  ;  Adrian  IV. 
an  Englishman  by  birth,  who  died  on  the  1st.  of  Septem- 
ber, 1 159  ;  Alexander  III.  who  sat  twenty-two  years  ;  Lu- 
cius III.  who  died  in  1 185  ;  Urban  III.  who  died  in  1 187  ; 
Gregory  VIII.  who  died  on  the  fifty-seventh  day  after  his 
election  ;  Clement  III.  who  died  in  the  third  year  of  his 
pontificate  ;  and  Celestine  III.  who,  though  elected  in  the 
eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  governed  the  Church  near 
seven  years,  and  died  in  January,  1 198. 

Three  general  councils,  viz.  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  ele- 
venth, were  held  in  this  century,  for  the  reformation  of 
manners,  the  suppression  of  schisms,  and  the  extirpation 
of  heretical  errors.  The  ninth  general  council,  being  the 
first  of  Lateran,  was  held  in  the  year  1122,  under  Calix- 
tus  II.  and  consisted  of  three  hundred  bishops.  The  tenth 
general  council,  being  the  second  of  Lateran,  was  held  in 
the  year  1139,  under  Innocent  II.  against  the  schism  of 
Peter  Leo,  and  was  composed  of  a  thousand  bishops.  The 
eleventh  general  council,  being  the  third  of  Lateran,  was 
held  in  the  year  1179,  under  Alexander  III.  against  the 
Albigenses,  who  maintained  the  errors  of  the  Manicheans, 
and  it  consisted  of  three  hundred  bishops,  among  whom 
were  St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  archbishop  of  DubHn,  and 
the  archbishop  of  Tuam,  with  five  other  Irish  and  four 
English  bishops. 

After  the  death  of  Honorius  II.  in  the  year  1130,  an 
unhappy  schism  divided  the  Church:  Innocent  IT.  was  duly 
chosen  on  the  14th  of  February,  1130,  by  the  greater 
number  of  cardinals  ;  notwithstanding  which  a  faction 
acknowledged  Peter,  the  son  of  Leo,  under  the  name  of 
Z2 
t 


270  HISTOKY    Of    THjt 

Anacletus  II.  Being  an  ambitious  worldly  man,  he  got 
all  the  strong  holds  about  Rome  into  his  hands,  and  was 
supported  by  Roger,  duke  of  Sicily  ;  by  William  duke 
of  Aquitain,  or  Guienne,  which  was  part  of  Aquitain  ;  by 
the  Milanese,  &.c.  Innocent  II.  who  was  a  holy  man,  fled 
to  Pisa,  and  from  thence  into  France,  where  he  was  re- 
cognized by  king  Lewis  VI.  surnamed  the  JBigy  or  the  Fat, 
and  by  Henry  I.  king  of  England.  In  the  year  1 132,  the 
emperor  Lothaire  marched  with  an  army  to  Rome,  to 
put  him  in  possession  of  the  Lateran  Church,  and  St, 
Bernard  and  St.  Norbert  laboured  vigorously  and  suc- 
cessfully in  extinguishing  the  schism,  and  in  bringing  over 
the  partisans  of  Anaclet  to  the  union  of  the  Church. 
Upon  the  demise  of  this  antipope,  one  Gregory  was  set 
up,  under  the  name  of  Victor  IV.  but  after  three  months 
he  surrendered  his  pretensions  to  the  lawful  Pope,  Inno- 
cent. When  Alexander  III.  a  person  eminent  for  his 
skill  in  theology  and  in  the  canon  law,  was  duly  raised  to 
the  pontificate,  five  cardinals  presumed  to  form  another 
schism,  in  favour  of  Octavian,  under  the  name  of  Victory 
V.  and  this  schism  was  continued  by  three  other  antipopes, 
who  styled  themselves  Paschal  III.  Calistus  III.  Innocent 
III.  The  Emperor  Frederick  I.  surnamed,  from  the  co- 
lour of  his  beard  and  hair,  ^noharbus,  and  by  the  Ita- 
lians, Barbarossa,  carried  on  ah  unjust  quarrel  with  se- 
veral popes  successively,  seizing  the  revenues  of  vacant  ec- 
clesiastical benefices,  usurping  the  investiture  and  nomi- 
nation of  bishops,  and  openly  making  a  simoniacal  trafi^ic 
of  all  that  was  sacred.  It  is  not,  therefore,  strange  that 
such  a  prince  should  declare  himself  the  patron  and  pro- 
tector of  a  schism,  which  had  been  raised  only  by  his 
faction  and  interest  in  Rome.  The  city  of  Milan  had 
offended  him,  by  claiming  an  exclusive  right  i)f  choosing 
its  own  magistrates,  and  by  acknowledging  Alexander  III. 
for  the  true  and  rightful  Pope.  In  revenge  he  sat  down 
before  it  with  a  great  army,  in  1161,  and,  after  a  siege  of 
ten  months,  having  compelled  it  to  surrender  at  discretion, 
he  razed  the  town,  filled  up  the  ditches,  levelled  the  walls 
and  houses  with  the  ground,  and  caused  salt  to  be  sown 
on  the  place,  as  a  mark  that  this  city  was  condemned, 
never  more  to  be  rebuilt.  The  bodies  of  the  three  kings, 
which  he  found  there  in  the  church  of  St.  Eustcrgius,  he 
ordered  to  be  removed  to  Cologn  on  this  occasion.     The 


ClIURCH    OF    CHRIST.  271 

Lombard  cities  had  unanimously  entered  into  a  common 
league  to  rebuild  Miiaii.  When  the  walls  and  moats 
were  finished,  the  inhabitants,  with  great  joy,  returned 
into  their  city  on  the  27th  of  April,  1167.  The  emperor 
again  marched  against  it,  but  was  defeated  by  the  Mila- 
nese, supported  by  all  Italy,  which  was  united  against 
him  ;  wherefore  he  agreed  to  hold  a  conference  with  the 
pope  at  Venice,  in  which  he  abjured  the  schism,  and 
made  his  peace  with  the  Church  in  11 77.  That  Alexan- 
der III.  set  his  foot  on  the  neck  of  this  emperor,  in  the 
porch  of  St.  Mark's  church  in  Venice,  and  insulted  him 
on  this  occasion  in  these  words  of  the  Psalmist,  Super  as- 
pidem  et  hasiliscum  ambulabis^  et  conculcabis  leonem  ei  dra- 
conenij  Ps.  90.  is  a  notorious  forgery,  as  Baronius,  Natalis, 
Alexander,  Romuald,  Mathew  Paris,  William  of  Tyre, 
Roger  Hoveden,  and  many  other  judicious  historians,  de- 

Imonstrate.  Nor  is  the  story  consistent  with  reason,  or 
with  the  singular  meekness  and  humanity  of  Alexander  ;. 
though  in  some  modern  pictures  in  the  senate-house  of 
Venice,  this  pretended  humiliation  of  Frederic  with  the 
triumph  of  the  Lombard  cities  over  his  army,  is  exqui- 
sitely painted  ;  but  this  is  no  proof  of  the  fact,  as  painters 
and  poets  are  equally  allowed  the  liberty  of  fictions  and 
emblematical  representations. 

In  this  century  the    Norwegians  were  finally  brought 
[over  to  Christianity  by  the  means  of  Adrian  IV,     The 
JFin landers  were  converted  by  St.   Henry,  bishop  of  Up- 
[sal,  and  the  Rhugians,  who  inhabited  Pomerania,  by  Ab- 
[solon  and  Berno,  bishops  of  Roschildes  and  Meckelburgh. 
[The  people  of  Courland,  Samogitia,  and  Livonia,  were 
likewise  happily  won  over  to  Christ,  by  the  preaching  and 
apostolical  labours  of  Memardus.     Christian  piety  and  re- 
lijjion  were  greatly  advanced  by  the  holy  order  of  the 
Cistercians,  or  Bernardins  ;  by  the  canons  regular  of  St. 
Augustine  ;  by  the  canons  of  Premontre,  founded  by  St. 
[Norbert  in  the  year  1 120  ;  and  by   the  Trinitarians,  in- 
stituted in  the  year  1160,   for  the  redemption  of  Chris- 
tian captives  and  prisoners  made  by  the  Infidels  during- 
[the  crusades. 

The  succession  of  saints  was  continued  in  the  Church 
by  St.  Bernard  ;  St.  Norbert,  archbishop  of  Magdeburgh  ; 
St.  Galdin,  archbishop  of  Milan  ;  St.  Laurence  Toole, 
archbishop  of  DubUn  ;  St.  Malachy,  archbishop  of  Ar- 


27^  llISTORY  OF  THE 

magh  ;  St.  Malchus,  bishop  of  Lismore,  reputed  tlien,  for 
his  learning,  the  oracle  of  Ireland  ;  St.  Felix  Valois  ;  St. 
Johnof  Matha  ;  St.  Stephen  Harding,  abbot  of  Citeaux  ; 
St.  Isidore  of  Madrid  ;  St.  Eric,  king  of  Sweden  ; 
St.  EUzabeth  ;  St.  Hildegardis  ;  St.  Alberic  ;  St.  Robert, 
abbot  of  Nevvminster,  in  England  ;  St.  Hugh,  bishop  of 
Lincoln  ;  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  ;  St.  Ceisus  of  Ar- 
magh ;  St.  William  of  Maleval ;  St.  Robei-t  of  Arbrissel ; 
St,  Gilbert  of  Sembringam,  founder  of  the  Gilbertins  ;  St. 
Ubaldus,  bishop  of  Gubio  ;  St.  Godrick,  and  St.  Ulrick, 
hermits  ;  and  St.  Homobonus,  merchant.  See  Dr.  Alban 
Butler,  torn.  11.  p.  241. 

St.  Bernard  was  the  prodigy  and  great  ornament  of 
this  age.  Had  Lord  Bolingbroke  been  better  acquainted 
with  his  character  and  writings,  instead  of  displaying  his 
talents  in  passing  unjust  censures,  he  would  have  acknow- 
ledged that  the  heroic  sentiments  of  humility,  devotion, 
and  divine  charity  which  all  his  works  breathe,  could  only 
come  from  a  soul  full  of  the  spirit  of  God.  This  holy 
doctor  was  well  versed  in  the  writings  of  the  principal 
fathers  of  the  Church,  especially  St.  Ambrose  and  St. 
Augustine.  He  is  reckoned  among  the  fathers,  and  one 
of  the  most  useful  to  those  who  desire  to  improve  their 
hearts  in  sincere  piety.  His  works  are  printed  in  two 
volumes  folio,  and  in  nine  octavo.  His  letters  amount  to 
above  440,  and  are  a  lasting  monument  of  his  learning, 
prudence,  and  indefatigable  zeal.  A  perfect  spirit  of  hu- 
mility reigns  throughout  all  his  writings,  and  strongly  af- 
fects the  hearts  of  his  readers,  as  it  is  the  language  of  his 
own  heart,  always  glowing  with  ardent  love  and  compunc- 
tion. His  confidence  in  God  was  such,  that  he  said,  "  I 
"  confess  myself  most  unworthy  of  the  glory  of  heaven, 
*'  and  that  I  can  never  obtain  it  by  my  own  merit  ;  but 
''  my  Lord  and  Saviour  possesses  it  upon  a  double  title, 
•'  that  of  natural  inheritance,  by  being  the  only  begotten 
V*  Son  of  his  Eternal  Father — and  that  of  purchase,  by 
'*  having  bought  it  with  his  precious  blood.  This  second 
*'  title  he  has  transferred  on  me,  and  upon  this  right  I  hope, 
"  with  an  assured  confidence,  to  obtain  it,  through  his 
"  adorable  passion  and  mercy."  St.  Bernard  lays  it  down, 
as  an  undoubted  maxim,  that  not  to  advance  in  virtue, 
or  not  to  go  on  in  a  spiritual  Ufe,  is  to  fall  hach^  yet  nothing 
is  more  rare  than  to  find  persons  who  always  press  for- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  ^IS 

ward.  We  see,  says  he,  more  converted  from  Vice  to 
virtue,  than  increase  their  fervour  in  virtue.  He  assigns 
two  principal  reasons:  First,  many  who  begin  well,  after 
some  time  grow  again  remiss  in  the  exercises  of  mortifi- 
cation and  prayer,  and  return  to  the  amusements,  plea- 
sures, and  vanities  of  a  worldly  life.  Secondly,  others, 
who  are  regular  and  constant  in  exterior  duties,  neglect 
to  watch  over  and  cultivate  their  interior  ;  so  that  some 
spiritual  vice  insinuates  itself  into  their  alTections,  and 
renders  them  an  abomination  in  the  eyes  of  God.  ''  A 
**  man,"  says  the  holy  Doctor,  "  who  gives  himself  up 
"  entirely  to  exterior  exercises,  w^ithout  looking  seriously 
'*  into  his  own  heart,  to  see  what  passes  there,  imposes  upon 
^'  himself,  imagining  that  he  is  something  whilst  he  is  no- 
"  thing.  He  employs  his  hands  in  fulfilling  the  precepts  : 
"  he  fails  in  no  exercise  of  piety  or  penance,  complies  with 
'*  his  duties  by  habit  and  a  certain  rotation,  but  he  neither 
"  sees  nor  feels  the  sacred  worm,  which  gnaws  and  con- 
<'  sumes  his  heart.  Whilst  he  strains  at  a  gnat,  he  swallows 
'*  a  camel,  and  is  in  his  heart  a  slave  to  self-will,  a  prey 
''  to  avarice,  vain  glory,  and  ambition.  One  or  other,  or  all 
''  these  vices  together,  reign  in  his  soul.- '  In  the  days  of  St. 
Bernard,  many  philosophers,  by  pursuing  the  subtle  ima- 
ginations of  their  own  refining  genius,  pretended  to  give 
reasons  for  what  is  above  reason,  and  fell  thereby  into 
many  gross  errors.  Peter  Abelard,  a  wolf  in  a  sheep^s 
skin,  denied  the  Trinity  with  Arius,  destroyed  the  Incar- 
nation with  Nestorius,  and  took  away  the  necessity  of 
race  with  Pelagius.  He  was  always  unlike  himself,  al- 
ogether  equivocal  and  inconsistent,  and  so  vain,  that,  as 
>t.  Bernard  says,  he  knew  every  thing  in  Heaven  and 
'^.arth,  but  himself.  He  measured  the  heavens,  counted 
the  stars,  and  pretended  to  dive  into  the  mysteries  of  faith, 
and  secrets  of  nature,  but  his  science  was  but  all  folly, 
jand  empty  vanity,  because  he  knew  not  himself,  and  con- 
equently  had  not  learned  the  first  elements  of  true  wisdom. 
mold  of  Brescia  in  Italy,  ascholar  of  Abelard,  preached 
lany  errors  at  the  head  of  armed  troops.  *'  His  conver- 
'  sation,"  says  St.  Bernard,  "  had  nothing  but  sweetness, 
and  his  doctrine  nothing  but  poison.  He  had  the  head 
"■'  of  a  dove,  but  the  tail  of  a  scorpion."  Another  person 
of  enunence,  by  deviating  from  the  Scripture  and  tra- 
dition, to  philosophize  on  the  mysteries  of  religion,  adul- 


274  ,  HISTOHY    OF    THE 

terated  their  simplicity.  This  was  Gilbert  de  la  Porree, 
a  famous  professor  of  theology  at  Poictiers,  and  at  length 
bishop  of  that  city,  who  taught,  that  the  Divine  Nature  is 
really  distinguished  from  the  three  persons,  and  that  the 
wisdom,  justice,  and  other  attributes  of  God,  are  really 
not  God  himself.  St.  Bernard  zealously  entered  the  lists 
with  these  dangerous  innovators,  and  maintained  the  pu- 
rity of  the  Catholic  faith  with  erudition  and  eloquence. 
Besides  the  famous  abbey  of  Clairvaux,  he  founded  be- 
fore his  death,  which  happened  on  the  20th  of  Au<::ust, 
1153,  a  hundred  and  forty  other  monasteries,  which  after- 
wards were  increased  to  the  number  of  eif^-ht  hundred. 
Fleury  has  inserted  in  his  history,  a  journal  of  a  great 
number  of  illustrious  miracles  wrought  by  St.  Bernard, 
and  attested  by  ten  venerable  and  faithful  vouchers,  1.  69. 
and  Mabillon  has  proved  their  incontestable  authenticity. 

The  reputation  of  the  sanctity  of  St.  Norbert,  founder 
of  the  Premonstratensian  order,  attracted  the  eyes  of 
Europe.  His  whole  life  was  a  perpetual  lent.  He 
preached  penance  with  amazing  success,  and  wrought  the 
conversion  of  numberless  sinners.  He  reformed  abuses, 
re-established  ecclesiastical  discipline,  and  inculcated,  in 
all  his  sermons,  the  frequent  use  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
of  Christ's  Body  and  Blood,  as  the  most  powerful  strength- 
ener  of  our  weakness,  the  sovereign  remedy  of  our  spirit- 
tial  miseries,  and  the  source  of  heavenly  comfort  to  alle- 
viate the  labours  and  sorrows  of  our  mortal  pilgrimage. 
Hence  he  is  usually  represented  with  a  ciborium  in  his 
hand,  to  denote  by  this  symbol  his  extraordinary  devotion 
to  the  blessed  Eucharist.  St.  Norbert  extirpated  at  Ant- 
werp the  impious  errors  of  Tanklin;  who  drew  after  him 
three  thousand  persons,  that  believed  him  to  be  a  great 
prophet,  and  were  ready  to  commit  any  outrages  to  sup- 
port his  reveries.  He  practised  the  most  filthy  abomina- 
tions of  the  Gnostics,  luring  the  people  with  magnificent 
banquets,  but  in  the  year  1115,  he  met  with  the  usual 
fate  of  the  authors  of  sedition,  and  disturbers  of  the  pub- 
lic peace. 

When  St.  Malachy  was  born,  Ireland  was  in  a  great 
measure  sunk  into  barbarism,  and  the  face  of  the  Irish 
Church  was  greatly  disfigured,  through  a  long  and  una- 
voidable intercourse  between  the  natives  and  the  Danish 
invaders.     From  the  dissolution  of  the  Irish  monarchy  io^ 


^ 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  275 

1022y  to  the  entrance  of  Henry  II.  1171,  the  nation  con- 
tinued mostly  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  a  great  relaxation  of 
piety  and  morals  gradually  took  place,  and  the  regular 
succession  of  bishops  was  interrupted  in  several  dioceses 
by  intruders,  till  the  heathen  barbarians  were  converted 
to  Christianity.  St.  Malachy  being  canonically  raised  to 
the  see  of  Armagh,  laboured  with  indefatigable  zeal  in  abo- 
lishing all  barbarous  customs,  in  reforming  abuses,  and  in 
banishing  ignorance  and  superstition.  He  softened  the  most 

Iavage  hearts  into  humanity,  and  made  several  wise  re- 
;ulations  in  ecclesiastical  discipline,  and  re-established  all 
eligious  observances  and  practices   of  piety.     The  great 
bbey  of  Benchor,  which  lay  then  in  a  desolate  condition, 
ocame  by  his  care  a  flourishing  seminary    of  learning 
nd  piety.     He  died  in  the  abbey  of  Clairvaux,  in  1148. 
t.  Bernard  wrote  the  history  of  his  life  and   miracles, 
nng  a  mass  of  Requiem  for  his  sonl,  made  a  funeral  ora- 
on   on   the    occasion,   and  another   on  his   anniversary, 
hich  pieces  l)om.   Rivet   thinks    to  be    equal   to  any 
mposition  of  the  kind  that  has  appeared  since  the  Au- 
nistan  age. 

St.  Laurence  Toole,  the  son  of  a  powerful  prince  in 

I.cinster,  was  abbot  of  Glendaloch.     After  the  death  of 

Gregory,  he  was  unanimously  chosen  to  fill  the  archiepis- 

Htopal  see  of  Dublin.     He  was  consecrated  by  Gelasius 

rtrchbishop  of  Armagh  and  successor  of  St.  Malachy  in 

Ihe  year  1162,  that  is,  three  hundred  and  twenty-four 

ears  after  the  Pagans,  called  Ostmen  or  Easterlings,  had 

ken  possession  of  Dublin.     It  was  in  the  year  1 152,  that 

ardinal  John  Paparo,  legate  of  Pope  Eugenius  III.  con- 

rred  on  this  see  the  archiepiscopal  dignity,  having  brought 

om  Rome  four  palls  for  the  four  metropolitans  of  Ar- 

agh,  Dublin,  Cashel,  and  Tuam.     St.  Laurence's  first 

care  was  to  watch  over  his  liock,  to  reform  the  manners 

l^f  his  clergy,  and  to  furnish  the  altar  with  worthy  minis- 

P^ers.     He  applied  himself  with  unwearied  zeal  to  every 

l^art  of  his  office,  having  always  before  his  eyes  the  strict 

IBccount  which  he  was  to   give  to  the  sovereign  pastor  of 

IHouls.  His  cathedral  was  the  Church  of  The  Holy  Triniiij^ 

Ipnow  called  Christ  Churchy  which  was  built  in  the  centre 

of  the  city,  by  Sitricus  king  of  the  Ostmen,  and  bishop 

Donat,  in  1038,  and  converted  into   a  dean  and  chapter 

by  Henry  the  VIII.  in  '  1541 .     The  other  cathedral,  dedi- 


276  HISTORY    OF    THE 

cated  under  the  invocation  of  St.  Patrick,  was  built  by  arch- 
bishop Comyn  In  1 190,  on  the  same  spot  where  an  old  paro- 
chial church  had  long  stood,  which  was  said  to  have  been 
erected  by  St.  Patrick  in  the  fifth  century.  St.  Laurence 
frequently  made  choice  of  the  abbey  of  Glendaloch  for 
his  retreats,  and  coming  out  of  them  he  seemed  another 
Moses,  coming  from  conversing  with  God,  full  of  a  hea- 
venly fire  and  divine  light.  It  was  in  his  time  that  Richard, 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  commonly  called  Stronp^boiVj  took  Dub- 
lin, sword  in  hand,  and  massacred  a  great  number  of  the 
inhabitants.  In  this  dreadful  disaster  the  good  pastor  was 
employed  in  relieving  the  distressed,  in  imploring  for  them 
the  compassion  of  the  conquerors,  and  in  exhorting  the 
sufferers  at  least  to  make  a  good  use  of  their  afiiictions. 
All  found  in  him  a  father,  both  in  their  temporal  and  spi- 
ritual necessities.  Every  day  he  entertained  at  table  thirty 
poor  persons,  and  often  three  hundred,  besides  many  others 
whom  he  maintained  in  private  houses,  and  furnished  with 
clothes  and  other  necessaries  of  fife,  especially  when  the 
terrible  famine  continued  to  rage  for  three  years  all  over 
the  country.  Whatever  he  possessed  became  immediately 
the  treasure  of  the  poor,  so  that  he  could  truly  say  to  a 
friend,  who  in  his  last  illness  reminded  him  to  make  a  will, 
"  I  thank  God  I  have  not  a  penny  left  in  the  world  to  dis- 
pose of."  He  died  in  1180,  in  the  monastery  of  regular 
canons  at  Eu,  upon  the  confines  of  Normandy,  after  re- 
ceiving the  Viaticum  and  Extreme  Unction  with  the  most 
edifying  piety  from  the  hands  of  the  abbot.  The  archbishop 
of  Rouen  and  three  other  commissioners,  by  order  of 
Pope  Honorius  lit.  took  juridical  informations  of  several 
miracles  wrought  through  his  intercession  ;  and  his  life, 
with  a  faithful  account  of  his  rigorous  fasts  and  austerities, 
was  authentically  written  by  a  regular  canon,  in  Surius. — 
Fontani,  Chron.  Rotom. 

St.  Felix,  of  the  royal  branch  of  Valois  in  France, 
liaving  renounced  his  estate,  retired  into  an  hermitage, 
and  sequestered  himself  from  the  world,  forgetting  its 
shadows  and  appearances,  which  grossly  impose  upon  its 
deluded  votaries.  There,  in  the  calm  and  serenitv  of  his 
silent  retreat,  he  studied  to  purify  his  heart,  and  five  only 
to  his  Creator ;  letting  others  amuse  themselves  with  the 
airy  bubbles  of  ambition,  and  enjoy  the  cheats  of  fancy 
and  the  flatteries  of  sense,  he  abandoned  himself  to  the 


OHUIICII    OF    CIlltlST.  277 

heavenly  delights  of  holy  contemplation,  and  to  the  great- 
est rigours  of  penance,  which  his  fervour,  love,  and  com- 
punction rendered  sweeter  to  him  than  the  joys  of  thea- 
tres. St.  John  of  Matha,  a  young  nohleman  of  Provence, 
and  doctor  of  divinity,  having  heai*d  much  of  the  holy 
hermit,  sought  him  out  in  his  desert,  and  proposed  to  hira 
a  project  of  estahlishing  a  religious  order  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  captives,  a  design  with  which  he  was  inspired  when 
he  said  his  first  mass.  The  two  servants  of  God  agreed 
to  consult  Heaven,  by  redoubhng  their  fasts  and  prayers 
for  three  days,  after  which  they  resolved  to  beg  the  ap- 
probation of  the  apostolic  see.  Innocent  III.  after  many 
dehberations,  approved  this  new  religious  institute,  which 
was  called  of  ike  Most  Holy  Trhiily^  and  which  was  so 
much  increased  within  the  space  of  forty  years,  as  to  be 
possessed  of  six  hundred  monasteries. 

The  principal  ecclesiastical  writers  of  this  age,  (besides 
St.  Bernard,  surnamed  3IcUiflims,  or  honey-flowing,  on 
account  of  the  fluidity  and  sweetness  of  his  style)  were 
Peter  the  Venerable,  abbot  of  Cluni ;  Gratian,  the  com- 
piler of  the  canon  law,  in  1150  ;  Ivo,  bishop  of  Chartres  ; 
Algerus  Scholasticus  ;  John  of  Salisbury  ;  Perer  of  Blois, 
archdeacon  of  Bath  ;  Hildebert,  archbishop  of  Tours  ;  St. 
Hugh,  bishop  of  Grenoble  ;  Peter  Comester ;  William  of 
Malmesbury ;  Rupertus  Abbot  ;  Cardinal  Leo  Marsica- 
nus  ;  Nicetas  ;  Sigebert ;  Honorius ;  Cardinal  Robert  Pol- 
lein  ;  Enthymius  ;  Zigabenus  ;  Zonarus  ;  Cedrenus  ;  Theo- 
rianus ;  Hugo  of  St.  Victor,  a  native  of  Ypres,  surnamed 
the  Tongue  of  St.  Augustine  ;  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  a 
Scotsman,  and  an  eminent  contemplative  :  Peter  Lombard, 
a  native  of  Novara  in  Lombardy,  and  archbishop  of  Paris, 
who  compiled  a  body  of  divinity,  collected  from  the  writ- 
ings of  the  holy  Fathers  into  four  books,  called  the  SeU' 
iences,  from  which  he  was  surnamed  the  Blaster  of  the  Sen-- 
tences,  and  on  which  several  eminent  doctors  have  written 
commentaries,  &c. 
A  a 


278  iiistohy  of  the 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

The  Church  of  ihe  Thirteenth  Century. 

THE  apostolic  chair  was  filled  in  this  age  by  Innocent 

III.  eighteen  years  and  six  months,  by  Honorius  III.  ten 
years  and  eight  months,  by  Gregory  IX.  fourteen  years 
and  five  months,  and  by  Celestine  IV.  only  seventeen  days.  "^ 
After  a  vacancy  of  near  twenty  months,  Innocent  IV.  was 
raised  to  the  pontificate,  in  Jmie  1243,  which  he  held  ele-, 
ven  years,  five  months,  and  fifteen  days.  Alexander  IV.. 
being  then  chosen,  governed  the  Church  six  years  and 
five  months.  Urban  IV.  sat  three  years  and  one  month, 
and  died  in  Perugia  in  1264.  Clement  IV.  sat  three  years 
and  nine  months.  St.  Gregory  X.  the  archdeacon  of 
Liege,  succeeded  him  in  1271,  after  a  vacancy  of  almost 
three  years,  the  cardinals  not  agreeing  in  their  choice, 
which  gave  occasion  to  the  following  distich  : 

*^  Papatus  munus  tulit  Archidiaconus  unus, 

"  Qiiem  Patrem  Pairmn  fecit  discordia  fratrum^ 

After  much  toil^  anxiety^  and  care., 
A  plain  Archdeacon  mounts  St.  Peter'' s  chair  ; 
The  holy  Weatern  Pontiffs  placed  among  ; 
So  concord  sweet  from  dire  dissension  sj)rung. 

St.  Gregory  d^ing  in  January,  1276,  Innocent  V.  was 
elected,  and  died  after  the  fifth  month  of  his  pontificate. 
Adrian  V.  died  on  the  thirty-seventh  day  after  his  election. 
John  XXI.  died  in  May,  1277,  in  the  eighth  month  of  his 
pontificate.     Nicholas  III.  died  in  August,  1280.     Martin 

IV.  sat  four  years  and  one  month.  Honorius  IV.  sat  two 
years.  Nicholas  IV.  died  on  the  4th  of  April,  in  the  be-  _. 
ginning  of  the  fifth  year  of  his  pontificate,  that  is,  in  1292, 
the  year  after  Jerusalem  was  taken  by  Saladin.  The  apos- 
tolical see  having  remained  vacant  two  years  and  three 
months,  St.  Peter  Celestine  V.  was,  out  of  pure  regard  to 
his  eminent  sanctity,  unanimously  elected,  and  impor- 
tuned to  accept  of  the  pontificate,  on  the  5th  of  July, 
1294,  which  he  abdicated  on  the  121h  of  December,  the 
same  year,  with  greater  joy  than  the  most  ambitious  man 
could  mount  the  throne  of  the, richest  empire  in  the  world. 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  279 

Cardinal  Benedict  Cajetan,  under  the  name  of  Boniface 
VIII.  the  ablest  civilian  and  canonist  of  his  age,  was 
«'hosen  in  his  place,  and  crowned  at  Rome  on  the  16th  of 
January  following.  He  held  the  pontificate  eight  years, 
nine  months,  and  eighteen  days ;  but  Rome  being  then 
torn  by  civil  divisions,  especially  by  the  factions  of  the 
Colowias,  he  fell  into  great  calamities,  and  received  much 
ill  treatment  from  William  of  Nogaret,  and  Philip  tJu. 
F'air^  kirig  of  France,  his  declared  enemy. 

Three  general  councils  were  held  in  this  century.  The 
fourth  of  Lateran  of  412  bishops,  and  near  800  abbots, 
under  Innocent  III.  in  the  year  1215.  This  was  the 
twelfth  general  council.  The  thirteenth  was  the  first 
council  of  Lyons,  which  was  celebrated  there  in  1245,  by 
Innocent  IV.  partly  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  succours 
for  the  Crusaders,  and  partly  to  reclaim  the  emperor 
Frederic  II.  It  consisted  of  140  bishops  besides  the  car- 
dinals, patriarchs,  the  emperor  Baldwin  II.  and  the  orators 
of  other  Christian  princes.  The  fourteenth  general  coun- 
cil, or  second  of  Lyons^  was  opened  in  the  same  city,  on 
the  7th  of  May,  1274,  in  which  were  assembled  500 
bishops,  70  abbots,  and  1000  other  prelates.  James  king  of 
Arragon,  with  the  ambassadors  of  several  other  princes, 
the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  the  metropolitan  of  Nice, 
and  the  grand  treasurer  of  the  Greek  emperor,  assisted, 
and  produced  the  emperor's  letters,  with  another  letter 
written  in  the  names  of  thirty-five  Oriental  archbishops 
and  their  sufiragans,  earnestly  praying  for  a  re-union  with 
the  mother  Church,  and  styling  the  bishop  of  Rome  the 
first  Pontiff  and  the  common  Father  of  all  Christians.  The 
emperor  Michael  Palaeologus  had  made  proposals  before  to 
Clement  IV.  for  a  union,  and  Gregory  X.  resolved  to 
pursue  the  business  zealously,  and  bring  it  to  a  happy 
conclusion.  The  city  of  Lyons  was  most  convenient  for 
this  purpose,  and  also  to  concert  measures  for  the  recovery 
of  the  Holy  Land,  which  Gregory  promoted  with  all  his 
might.  It  was  also  the  most  unexceptionable  place  for 
the  meeting  of  those  princes  whose  succours  were  princi- 
pally expected,  because  at  that  time  it  was  subject  to  its 
own  archbishop,  though  held  in  fief  of  the  emperor.  The 
Pope  himself  presided  at  this  council,  and  the  Logothete, 
or  chancellor  of  Constanstinople,  abjured  the  schism  in 
the  name  of  the  emperor  and  the  nation,  accepted  the  pro^ 


280  HISTORY    OF    THE 

fession  of  faith  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  confessed  the 
supremacy  and  primacy  of  the  holy  see.  In  thanksgiving 
the  Pope  sung  Mass,  and  the  Te  Deum  on  the  feast  of  SS. 
Peter  and  Paul,  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  John,  with  his 
cheeks  all  the  time  bathed  in  tears.  The  Gospel  was  sung 
first  in  Latin,  then  in  Greek,  and  a  sermon  was  preached 
by  St.  Bonaventure  on  the  unity  of  faith.  Then  the  Creed 
was  sung  also  in  Latin  and  in  Greek,  and  as  a  seal  of  the 
re-union  of  the  two  churches,  these  words  were  thrice  re- 
peated :  TVho  proceeded  from  the  Father  and  the  So7i.  The 
council  was  closed  by  the  fifth  and  last  session  on  the  17th 
of  July  ;  and  in  memory  hereof  two  crosses  are  placed  on 
the  high  altar  of  the  Metropolitan  church  at  Lyons.  Every 
thing  then  apparently  promised  a  durable  union  ;  but,  alas  ! 
after  a  short  sun-shine  of  peace,  the  Greeks  relapsed  as 
usual,  and  the  schism  was  renewed  nine  years  after  by  the 
emperor  Andronicus.  A  violent  storm  was  also  raised  in 
this  age  against  the  Church  by  the  new  Manicheans  and 
Cathari^  a  sect  of  men  whose  principles  and  practice  were 
inimical  to  public  peace,  and  tended  to  the  destruction  of 
the  laws  of  civil  society  and  Christian  morals.  The  Mani- 
cheans had  been  troublesome  from  time  to  time  for  near 
a  thousand  years,  but  never  were  so  numerous  or  so  pow- 
erful as  in  this  century,  particularly  in  the  southern  parts 
of  France,  where  they  were  called  Albigeois  or  Albigen- 
seSj  from  the  city  of  Alby.  Being  favoured  by  Raymond, 
Count  of  Toulouse,  and  by  some  other  neighbouring 
princes,  they  committed  great  outrages  in  Languedoc,  ex- 
pelled the  bishops  from  their  sees,  burnt  churches,  demo- 
lished monasteries,  and  even  entered  the  field  in  armed 
troops  to  the  amount  of  a  hundred  thousand  men.  But 
their  reign  was  short,  for  their  numerous  forces  were 
routed  at  Muret,  a  small  town  on  the  Garonne,  near  Tou- 
louse, by  Simon  of  Montfort,  earl  of  Leicester,  at  the 
head  of  only  a  thousand  men.  In  the  year  1209  they  for- 
tified themselves  at  Beziers,  but  the  town  being  besieged 
and  taken  by  assault,  the  inhabitants  were  barbarously 
put  to  death,  to  the  number  of  fifteen  thousand.  The  in- 
humanity of  this  action  is  not  to  be  palhated,  nor  can  the 
cruelties  and  injustices  that  were  exercised  on  this  occa- 
sion be  justified  on  any  principle.  Those,  indeed,  who  dis- 
turb the  public  peace,  and  set  up  the  standard  of  rebellion 
and  persecution  against  all  laws  and  authority,  are  to  be 


CHURCH  OP  CHRIST.  281 

restrained  by  lawful  authority  from  doing  acts  of  violence 
and  hurting  others,  but  crimes  and  seditions  are  not  to  be 
punished  or  revenged  by  other  crimes,  nor  are  avarice 
and  ambition  to  cover  themselves  under  the  cloak  of  zeal 
for  religion. 

France  was  also  infested  about  this  time  with  another 
sect,  which  was  that  of  the  Waldenses,  or  Poor  Men  of 
Lyons,  whq  took  their  origin  from  Peter  Waldo,  a  mer- 
chant of  that  city,  and  broached  various  errors.  They 
commenced  preachers  without  any  license  or  commission, 
and  when  they  were  opposed  by  the  pastors  of  the  Church 
they  wanted  humility,  and  said,  the  clergy  condemned 
them  because  they  envied  their  sanctity  and  morals. 
Such  are  the  baneful  fruits  and  blindness  of  pride  and 
self-conceit.  The  Pctro-Brusians,  who  took  their  name 
from  Peter  Bruys,  a  native  of  Dauphine,  disturbed  the 
peace  of  the  Church  in  like  manner,  and  began  to  pro- 
pagate their  pernicious  tenets  at  this  period,  covering  the 
most  wicked  actions  and  corrupt  morals  under  an  hy- 
pocritical garb.  In  opposition  to  all  these  heresies.  Di- 
vine Providence  was  pleased  to  raise  a  number  of  apos- 
tolic men  and  eminent  saints,  who  maintained  the  purity 
of  faith,  and  promoted  true  piety  and  devotion,  by  the 
light  of  their  doctrine  and  shining  virtues.  St.  Dominick 
and  St.  Francis  of  Assisium  founded  two  religious  orders, 
which  were  solemnly  approved  and  confirmed  in  1216 
and  1223,  by  the  authority  of  Honorius  II.  who  also  con- 
firmed the  holy  order  of  the  Carmelites  in  1226.  The 
religious  order  of  Hermits,  founded  by  St.  Augustine,  near 
the  city  of  Tagaste,  in  the  year  388,  was  transferred  by 
^Jnnocent  IV.  in  the  year  1243,  from  their  hermitages  into 
^Bities  and  towns,  for  the  edification  of  the  faithful:  and 
^Kheir  union  into  one  great  body,  under  one  general  supe- 
l^^ior,  was  approved  and  ratified  by  Alexander  IV.  in  1257. 
A  new  religious  order  for  the  redemption  of  captives,  was 
approved  by  Gregory  IX.  in  the  year  1235.  It  was  found- 
ed by  St.  Peter  Nolasco,  a  native  of  Languedoc,  who  being 
I  sent  by  Count  Simon,  of  Montfort,  into  Spain,  with  the 
^oung  prince  James  of  Arragon  (whose  father  had  been 
befeated  and  killed  among  the  Albigenses,  in  the  battle 
of  Muret)  led  the  life  of  a  recluse,  and  practised  the  aus- 
terities of  a  cloister  in  the  midst  of  the  royal  court  at 
Barcelona,  where  the  kings  of  Arragon  then  chiefly  resided- 
A  a  2 


282  HISTORY  OF  TilL 

Charity  and  compassion  for  the  poor  had  always  been  a 
distinguishing  feature  in  the  character  of  St.  Peter,  so 
that  he  might  say  with  holy  Job,  that  mercy  and  compas- 
sion for  his  neighbour  in  distress  had  groivn  up  with  him 
from  his  childhood.  He  saw  almost  under  his  eyes  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  Christians,  who  were  detained  in  bondage 
among  the  Infidels,  and  his  tender  heart  was  particularly 
afflicted  hereat  ;  for  the  Moors  at  that  time  being  pos- 
sessed of  a  considerable  part  of  Spain,  great  numbers  of 
Christians  groaned  under  their  tyranny  in  a  miserable  sla- 
very, both  there  and  in  Africa.  The  sight  of  so  many 
moving  objects  in  captivity,  and  the  consideration  of  their 
corporeal  sufferings,  and  much  more  so  of  the  spiritual 
dangers  to  which  their  immortal  souls  were  exposed,  un- 
der their  Mahometan  masters,  made  him  feel  by  compas- 
sion the  weight  of  all  their  chains,  and  spend  his  whole 
estate  in  ransoming  as  many  as  he  could.  By  his  dis- 
courses he  moved  the  king  and  several  others  to  contri- 
bute large  alms  towards  this  charity,  and  at  last  formed  a 
project  of  instituting  a  religious  order,  for  a  constant  sup- 
ply of  men  and  means,  whereby  to  carry  on  his  laudable 
undertaking.  St.  Raymund  of  Pennafort,  who  was  de- 
scended from  the  counts  of  Barcelona,  and  nearly  allied 
to  the  kings  of  Arragon,  concerted  with  him  the  founda- 
tion of  this  new  order,  and  drew  up  for  it  certain  rules 
and  constitutions.  It  was  this  saint  who  collected  into  one 
body  all  the  scattered  decrees  of  popes  and  councils,  since 
the  collection  made  by  Gratian. .  It  is  looked  upon  as  the 
best  finished  part  of  the  body  of  the  canon  law,  and  is 
compiled  in  five  books,  commonly  called  the  Decretals. 
The  incredible  number  of  conversions,  of  which  these 
Saints  were  the  instruments,  is  known  only  to  Him,  who,  by 
his  grace,  was  the  author  of  them.  The  kingdom  of  Va- 
lentia  was  the  first  place  that  was  blessed  with  the  labours 
of  St.  Peter  ;  the  second  was  that  of  Grenada  and  the 
coasts  of  Spain  and  Algiers,  where,  after  undergoing  great 
hardships  and  sufferings,  he  induced  many  of  the  Ma- 
hometans to  embrace  the  faith  of  Christ.  St.  Raymund 
applied  himself  to  the  exercises  and  functions  of  an 
apostolic  life,  especially  the  conversion  of  the  Saracens, 
ten  thousand  of  whom  received  baptism  in  the  year  1256. 
St.  Peter  died  on  Christmas  day,  in  1256,  in  the  67th 
year  of  his  age,  and  St.  Raymund  on  the  6th  of  Janu- 


CHURCH  or  cnnisT.  >        283 

ary,  127p,  in  the  "lOOtfcyear  of  his  age.  They  were  both 
honoured  by  many  miracles:  Bollandus  has  filled  fifteen 
pages  in  folio  with  an  account  of  them. 

St.  Raymond,  surnamed  Non-natus,  or  Unhorn^  because, 
like  unto  Scipio  Africanus,  and,  according  to  some  authors, 
Julius  Csesar,  he  was  taken  out  of  the  body  of  his  mother 
after  her  death,  by  the  Caesarean  operation,  in  the  year 
1!204,  succeeded  St.  Peter  Nolasco,  at  Barcelona,  in  the 
charitable  office  of  Ransomer  of  Captives.  Being  sent 
into  Barbary,  he  purchased  the  liberty  of  a  greater  num- 
ber of  slaves  ;  and  when  all  his  treasure  was  laid  out  in 
that  charitable  way,  he  made  a  magnanimous  sacrifice  of 
his  own  liberty,  and  voluntarily  gave  himself  up  as  a  hos- 
tage for  the  ransom  and  salvation  of  others,  who  were  in 
imminent  danger  of  sinking  under  their  calamities,  and 
losing  their  immortal  souls  by  impatience  or  apostacy  from 
Christ. 

St.  Philip  Beniti,  a  native  of  Florence,  was  in  this  age 
a  great  ornament  of  the  Church,  and  a  principal  pro- 
pagator of  the  rehgious  order  of  the  Servites  in  Italy. 
When,  upon  the  death  of  Clement  IV.  the  cardinals 
assembled  at  Viterbo  began  to  cast  their  eyes  on  him  to 
raise  him  to  the  apostolic  chair,  having  got  intelligence 
of  their  design,  he  retired  into  the  mountains,  and  lay 
concealed  there  till  Gregory  X.  was  chosen.  All  this 
time  he  redoubled  the  macerations  of  his  body,  and  gave 
himself  up  to  the  sweet  exercise  of  heavenly  contempla- 
tion, living  chiefly  on  dry  herbs,  and  drinking  at  a  foun- 
tain, since  called  St.  Philip's  Bath.  He  returned  from 
the  desert,  glowing  with  holy  zeal,  to  labour  for  the  con- 
version of  sinners,  and  to  kindle  in  the  hearts  of  Chris- 
tians the  fire  of  divine  love.  Italy  was  at  that  time 
horribly  divided  by  intestine  discords  and  hereditary 
factions,  particularly  those  of  the  Guelphs,  who  adhered 
to  the  popes,  and  the  Ghibellins,  or  imperialists,  who  were 
partisans  of  the  emperors  in  their  contests  about  investi- 
tures, &c.  These  factions  subsisted  in  Germany  for  above 
an  hundred  years,  but  in  Italy  almost  four  hundred,  they 
not  being  quite  extinct  there  before  the  reign  of  Charles 
V.  St.  Philip  Beniti,  and  several  other  holy  men,  en- 
deavoured to  supply  suitable  remedies  to  these  quarrels, 
and  wonderfully  pacified  the  people  at  Pistoia,  Forli,  and 
many  other  places,  where  they  were  ready  to  tear  each 


284  History  of  the 

other  to  pieces,  bat  the  discords^  like  a  wound  ili  cured, 
broke  out  again  with  worse  symptoms  than  ever. 

The  renowned  St.  Thomas  of  Aquino,  styled  the  An- 
gelic Doctor,  flourished  in  this  age.  He  performed  his 
studies  at  Cologne  and  Paris,  under  the  tuition  of  Alber- 
tus  Magnus.  His  profound  humility  made  him  conceal 
the  amazing  progress  he  made  therein  from  his  school- 
fellows, who,  on  account  of  his  modesty  and  silence,  call- 
ed him  the  Dumb  Ox,  but  the  brightness  of  his  genius,  and 
his  quick  and  deep  penetration,  were  soon  discovered  by 
his  master,  Albertus,  who  not  able  to  contain  his  joy 
and  admiration,  said,  ''  We  call  him  the  dumb  ox,  but  he 
*'  will  give  such  a  bellow  in  learning,  as  will  be  heard  all 
'*  over  the  world."  This  applause  made  no  impression 
on  the  humble  Thomas,  because  his  heart  was  full  of  no- 
thing but  of  God,  and  his  own  insufficiency.  In  the  year 
1248,  being  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  began  to  publish 
his  first  works,  which  consisted  of  comments  on  the  ethics 
and  other  philosophical  works  of  Aristotle.  The  Albi- 
genses  and  Saracens  in  Arabia  and  Spain,  made  then  a 
bad  use  of  Aristotle's  philosophy,  and  wrote  with  incre- 
dible subtilty  on  his  principles,  particularly  Avicenna  and 
Averroes,  the  Arabian  philosophers.  St.  Thomas,  though 
he  had  only  a  bad  translation  of  the  works  of  that  philo- 
sopher, opposed  the  enemies  of  truth  with  their  own  wea- 
pons, and  employed  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle  in  defence 
of  the  faith,  and  made  it  subservient  to  divine  revelation. 
He  discerned  and  confuted  his  errors,  and  set  in  a  clear 
and  new  light  the  great  truths  of  reason,  which  that  phi- 
losopher had  often  wrapt  up  in  obscurity.  Thus  Aristo- 
tle, who  had  been  called  the  terror  of  Christians,  in  the 
hands  of  Thomas  became  orthodox,  and  furnished  rehgion 
with  new  arms  against  Idolatry  and  Atheism.  His  writ- 
ings are  original  efforts  of  genius  and  reflection,  and 
every  point  he  handles  in  a  manner  that  makes  it  appear 
new.  If  his  speculations  are  sometimes  spun  fine,  and  his 
divisions  run  to  niceties,  this  was  owing  to  the  custom 
of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  and  to  the  speculative  re- 
fining geniuses  of  the  Arabians,  whom  he  had  undertaken 
to  pursue  and  confute  throughout  their  whole  subtle  sys- 
tem. St.  Thomas  penetrated  the  most  knotty  difficulties 
in  all  the  sciences,  whether  sacred  or  profane,  to  which  he 
applied  himself;  not  out  of  a  vain  passion,  or  the  desire 


m. 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  285 

of  applause,  "but  for  the  advancement  of  God's  honour 
and  the  interest  of  religion.  In  obscure  and  difficult 
points,  he  redoubled  with  more  earnestness  his  fervour  in 
his  prayers  than  his  application  to  study,  which  he  found 
attended  with  such  success,  that  he  was  accustomed  to 
say,  that  he  learned  more  before  his  crucifix,  and  at  the 
foot  of  the  altar,  than  in  books.  His  works  are  printed 
in  ten  volumes,  folio,  and  are  partly  philosophical,  partly 
theological,  with  comments  on  the  holy  Scriptures,  and 
several  treatises  of  piety,  wherein  he  reduces  the  rules 
of  an  interior  life,  to  these  two  Gospel  maxims:  first,  that 
we  must  strenuously  labour,  by  self-denial  and  mortifi- 
ration,  to  extinguish  in  our  hearts  all  the  sparks  of  pride, 
and  the  inordinate  love  of  creatures  ;  secondly,  that  by 
assiduous  prayfer,  meditation,  and  doing  the  will  of  God  in 
all  things,  we  must  kindle  his  perfect  love  in  our  souls. — 
Opusc.  17  and  18.  The  fruits  of  his  preaching  were  no 
less  wonderful  than  those  of  his  pen:  He  was  heard  at 
Cologne,  Paris,  Rome,  and  in  other  cities  as  an  angel. 
Even  the  Jews  ran  of  their  own  accord  to  hear  his  ser- 
mons, and  many  of  theiti  -were  converted.  His  devotion 
to  the  blessed  sacrament  was  extraordinary,  and  in  saying 
mass  he  seemed  to  be  in  raptures,  often  quite  dissolved  in 
tears,  and  melting  with  love  in  contemplation  of  the  im- 
mense charity  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  died  on  the  7th  of 
March,  1274.  The  Bollandists  give  a  long  authentic 
account  of  various  miracles  wrought  through  his  inter- 
cession and  by  his  rehcs,  which  were  deposited  in  Tou- 
louse with  great  honour. 

St.  Bonaventure,  cardinal  and  bishop  of  Albano,  sur- 

amed  the  Seraphic  Doctor,  for  his  extraordinary  devotion, 
ardent  charity,  and  eminent  skill  in  sacred  learning,  was 
a  contemporary  of  St.  Thomas,  and  died  the  same  year, 
on  the  15th  of  July,  in  the  53d  year  of  his  age.  The  cele- 
brated Gerson,  the  most  learned  and  devout  chancellor  of 

aris,  calls  St.  Bonaventure  both  a  Cliet^b  and  a  Seraph, 

ecause  his  writings  both  enlighten  the  understanding  and 
inflame  the  heart  of  the  reader.  The  acts  of  his  canoni- 
zation record  several  approved  miracles  wrought  by  his 

ntercession. 

St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  so  called  from  his  long  residence 
in  that  city,  though  he  was  a  native  of  Lisbon  in  Portugal, 
adorned  the  church  of  this  century  by  his  learning  and 


i 


286  HISTORY    OF  THE 

shining  virtues.  After  teaching  divinity  with  great  ap- 
plause at  Bologna,  Toulouse,  Montpelier,  and  Padua,  he 
at  length  forsook  the  schools  to  apply  himself  wholly  to 
the  functions  of  a  missionary  preacher  ;  for  he  thought 
the  conversion  of  souls  from  vice,  and  the  reformation  of 
manners,  called  for  his  whole  attention  and  zeal,  and  he 
seemed  formed,  both  by  the  gifts  of  nature  and  grace,  for 
this  most  important  office.  Being  perfectly  versed  in  the 
Scriptures,  he  displayed  in  a  clear  light,  and  with  inex- 
pressible energy,  the  genuine  sense,  and  the  spirit  and 
marrow  of  the  sacred  text.  He  opposed  the  fashionable 
vices  with  vigour  and  success  in  France,  Spain,  and  Italy, 
and  he  spoke  with  such  unction  and  energy,  that  his  elo- 
quence, like  a  torrent  of  fire,  bore  down  all  before  him, 
and  his  words  were  so  many  darts,  which  pierced  the  hearts 
of  his  hearers,  for  he  had  long  treasured  up  in  his  own 
heart  the  most  feeling  sentiments  of  every  virtue,  and  his 
soul  was  all  flame,  before  he  endeavoured  to  kindle  the 
fire  of  divine  love  in  others.  He  was  no  less  admirable 
in  the  private  direction  of  souls  than  in  the  pulpit. 
Wherever  he  came,  dissensions  and  ftnimosities  were  ex- 
tinguished, usurers  restored  their  unjust  gains,  and  sinners 
threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  melted  into  tears.  The  sanc- 
tity and  austerity  of  his  life  added  such  weight  to  his  words, 
that  he  seemed  to  preach  by  every  action.  He  gave  up 
his  happy  soul  to  Him  who  had  created  it  for  his  own 
great  glory,  on  the  13th  of  June,  1231,  being  36  years 
old.  At  the  first  news  of  his  departure,  the  children  ran 
about  the  streets,  crying  out,  *'  the  saint  is  dead."  His 
sanctity  was  testified  by  many  illustrious  miracles,  recorded 
by  Papebroke  the  Bollandist. — T.  2  Jun.  p.  718. 

St.  Hyacinth  of  Poland,  called  the  Apostle  of  the  North, 
lived  about  this  time.  He  was  a  professed  enemy  of  idle- 
ness, which  he  knew  to  be  the  bane  of  all  virtues.  Every 
hour  of  the  day  had  its  employment  allotted  to  it,  but 
prayer  was,  as  it  were,  the  seasoning  both  of  his  sacred 
studies  and  of  all  his  other  actions.  His  zeal  was  too  ac- 
tive for  him  to  allow  himself  any  rest,  whilst  he  sav/  souls 
perishing  eternally  in  the  ignorance  of  the  true  God.  A 
tender  compassion  for  sinners  moved  him  to  carry  the 
Gospel  into  the  vast  and  savage  countries  of  the  North. 
After  he  had  preached  his  first  sermons  with  great  success 
at  Cracow  in  Silesia  (a  province  then  united  to  Poland)^. 


CHURCH  OF  CHIIIST, 

I  and  in  the  principal  cities  of  Prussia,  Pomerania,  Den- 
mark, Sweden,  Gotha,  and  Norway,  in  all  which  coun- 
tries there  still  remained  many  idolaters,  he  travelled  into 
Lesser  Russia,  and  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Black  Sea,  and 
into  the  isles  of  the  Archipelago.  Long  and  dangerous 
journeys  over  rocks,  precipices,  and  deserts,  were  not  able 
to  abate  his  ardour,  or  discourage  his  heroic  soul,  which 
delighted  in  labouring  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  could 
think  nothing  difficult  that  was  undertaken  for  so  great  an 
end.  Returning  towards  the  North,  he  entered  Muscovy, 
called  also  Great  Russia,  and  he  no  sooner  began  to  an- 
nounce the  Gospel,  confirming  his  doctrine  by  miracles, 
but  the  Mahometans,  Heathens,  and  Greek  schismatics 
tlocked  to  hear  him  in  great  multitudes,  and  became  do- 
cile to  the  truth.  Having  returned  to  Cracow  in  the  year 
lL'r31,  his  ardour  to  gain  souls  to  Christ  made  him  after- 
ward undertake  a  voyage  to  Comania  on  the  Danube,  and 
penetrate  into  Great  Tartary,  into  Thibet  near  the  East 
ndies,  and  into  Catay,  the  most  northern  province  of 
China.  By  means  of  his  apostolic  labour,  several  thousands 
of  these  barbarians  received  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism, 
and  among  them  a  prince  of  the  Tartars,  who  went  with 
several  lords  of  his  nation  to  the  first  General  Council  of 
Lateran,  in  1245.  St.  Hyacinth,  after  having  travelled 
above  four  thousand  leagues,  arrived  in  Cracow  in  the 
year  12-57,  which  was  the  seventy-second  and  last  of  his 
life.  His  sanctity  was  attested  by  an  amazing  number  of 
miracles,  with  the  history  of  which  the  Bollandists  have 
filled  thirty-five  pages  in  folio.  They  have  also  filled 
twenty-two  pages  in  folio  w^ith  the  history  of  the  miracles 
of  St.  Peter  of  Verona,  who,  after  converting  a  multitude 
of  sinners,  and  Manicheans  in  Tuscany,  Bologna,  Ancona 
and  the. Milanese,  w^as  martyred  on  his  return  from  Como 
to  Milan,  the  6th  of  April,  in  the  year  1252,  by  Carinus, 
an  assassin,  who  was  hired  by  the  Cathari  to  lie  in  am- 
bush, and  murder  him  on  the  road. 

;  The  succession  of  saints  was  still  kept  up  by  St.  John 
of  Mantua  ;  St.  Peregrinus  Latiozi,  who  continued  during 
.^^penance  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  to  the  80th  year  of  his 
|»age  ;  St.  Edmund,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  St.  Richard, 
bishop  of  Chichester;  St.  Wilham,  archbishop  of  York  ; 
St.  Lewis,  bishop  of  Toulouse  ;  St.  Simon  Stock  ;  St.  Syl- 
vester, abbot  of  Osimo  ;  St.  Raynerius  ;  St.  Lewis  IX. 


288  HISTORY    OP    THE 

king  of  France,  with  his  only  sister,  St.  Isabella  ;  8t. 
Hedvvigis,  queen  of  Poland  ;  St.  Clare  ;  St.  Elizabeth  ; 
St.  Gertrude  ;  St.  Juliana  ;  and  St.  Margaret  of  Cortona, 
&c.  These  great  servants  of  God  had  that  fundamental 
maxim -of  virtue  always  before  their  eyes,  that  even  devo- 
tion, infected  with  self-will  and  humour,  becomes  vicious, 
and  nourishes  self-love  and  self-conceit,  the  bane  of  all 
virtue,  and  the  chief  enemy  of  the  love  of  God.  It  is  from 
the  poisonous  root  of  self-love  that  all  our  vices  and  pas- 
sions spring,  and  the  seven  capital  sins  are  but  so  many 
branches  of  it.  Take  away  self-love,  and  you  will  shut  up 
all  the  avenues  of  hell.  It  is  the  indispensable  duty  of 
every  Christian  to  combat  and  counteract  this  dreadful 
evil,  by  the  opposite  virtue  of  self-denial,  in  spite  of  all 
the  refined  persuasions  of  a  deluded  conscience,  and  all 
the  specious  arguments  that  are  drawn  from  the  artifices 
and  suggestions  of  self-love  itself,  since  the  Gospel  re- 
quires self-denial  as  a  preliminary  condition,  and  the  first 
step  necessary  to  become  a  disciple  of  Christ.  If  any  one 
ivill  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself  ^t.  Matthew,  16, 24. 
Several  academies  were  instituted  in  this  age  for  the 
cultivation  of  letters,  one  at  Salamanca,  in  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  one  at  Patavium,  in  the  year  1222,  one 
at  Toulouse  in  1233,  one  at  Naples  in  1239,  one  in  Swe- 
den in  1240,  one  in  Cambridge  in  1280,  one  at  Montpe- 
lier,  in  1289,  and  one  at  Lisbon  in  1290.  Academical  de- 
grees were  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  licensing  persons 
to  teach  in  public.  In  conferring  the  degree  of  Doctor^ 
or  Master,  a  Bacillus,  or  wand,  was  delivered,  whence 
comes  the  name  of  JBaccalaureuSj  or  Baichtlor.  The  chief 
ecclesiastical  writers  of  this  century  were,  among  others, 
Innocent  III.  eminent  both  for  his  literary  and  apostolical 
labours  ;  Alexander  of  IJales,  in  Gloucestershire,  sur- 
named  the  Irrefragable  Doctor  ;  ^gidius  Romanus,  styled 
Doctor  Fundatissimus ;  Albertus  Magnus,  whose  works 
are  published  in  twenty-one  large  volumes  ;  Augustinus 
Triumphans  ;  Ulric  of  Argentina  ;  Alanus,  a  Cistercian 
monk,  called  the  Universal  Doctor  ;  Cardinal  James  of 
Vitri ;  Henricus  Gandavensis  ;  Rodericus  Ximenius,  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo  ;  Roger  Bacon,  called  Doctor  Mirabilis  ; 
Joachimus,  abbot  ;  Helinandus  ;  Humbert  ;  Hugo  de 
Sancto  Caro  ;  Vincent  of  Beauvais  ;  Robert  Sorbon  ; 
Thomas  Cantipratensis  ;   Robert  Grotest  ;   William  the 


I 


I 


ciiuRcu  or  CHRIST.  289 

Wise  and  Pious,  bishop  of  Paris,  who  exceedingly  pro- 
moted the  studies  in  that  university,  so  that  there  were 
then  more  students  than  citizens  in  Paris.  The  works  of 
this  illustrious  prelate  have  been  reprinted  several  times^ 
and  are  standing  monuments  of  his  great  piety  and  con- 
summate erudition.  If  we  follow  the  history  of  the  Church 
through  every  age  with  attention,  we  shall  find  that  the 
Providence  of  God  has  always  taken  care  to  raise  up  such 
men  from  time  to  time  for  the  defence  of  the  TValls  of  Je- 
rusalem^ and  to  fill  them  with  his  holy  spirit,  that  they 
might  repel  all  the  assaults  of  the  powers  of  darkness,  and 
support  the  faith  in  its  primitive  purity,  by  their  writings, 
their  miracles,  and  saint-like  lives.  This  has  been  the 
^ase  hitherto,  and  this  will  be  the  case  to  the  end  of  time. 
The  promises  made  to  the  Church  are  eternal,  and  will 
continue  to  be  accomplished  in  all  succeeding  ages.  The 
victories  she  has  heretofore  gained  over  idolatry,  heresies, 
and  scandals,  are  a  sure  proof  and  guarantee  of  the  victo- 
ries she  is  to  gain  in  future. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

The  Chitrch  of  the  Fourteenth  Centmvj. 

•*tHE  pontifical  chair  was  filled  in  this  age  by  Benedict 
[XI.  who,  after  the  demise  of  Boniface  VIII.  on  the  11th 
jof  October,  1303,  was  unanimously  elected  Pope  on  the 
[22d  of  the  same  month,  but  sat  only  eight  months  and 
[seventeen  days.   His  successor  Clement  V.  sat  about  nine 

ears,  and  died  near  Avignon  on  the  20th  of  April,  1314. 
[After  a  long  vacancy  John  XXII.  was  elected  on  the  7th 
of  August,  1316,  and  sat  eighteen  years.  Benedict  XII. 
succeeded  him,  and  died  in  the  eighth  year  of  his  pontifi- 
cate. After  him  Clement  VI.  sat  ten  years  and  about 
nine  months.  Innocent  VI.  was  elected  on  the  18th  of 
December,  1352,  and  sat  till  the  12th  of  September,  1362. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Urban  V.  who  sat  eight  years  and 
near  two  months.  Gregory  XI.  sat  seven  years  and  three 
months,  and  died  in  Rome  on  the  27th  of  March,  1378. 
Urban  VI.  was  chosen  on  the  9th  of  April  the  same  year, 
and  died  on  the  15th  of  October,  1389.  He  was  suc- 
Bb 


2D0  IIISTOKY    OF    THE 

ceeded  by  Boniface  IX.  who  governed  the  Church  till  the 
1st  of  October,  1403. 

The  fifteenth  General  Conncil  was  held  in  the  year 
1310  at  Vienne  in  France,  under  Clement  V,  It  consisted 
of  three  hundred  bishops,  and  a  great  number  of  other 
prelates  of  distinguished  abilities  and  merit,  perfectly  ac- 
quainted with  ecclesiastical  discipline  and  sacred  anti- 
quity. This  Council  suppressed  the  order  of  Knights 
Templars,  and  condemned  the  Fratricelli,  who  made  all 
perfection  to  consist  in  a  seeming  poverty.  The  impure 
heresies  of  the  Bernards,  L^olliards,  Beguincs  and  Turlu- 
piniy  with  the  errors  of  the  F'lagallantes^  who  placed  pe- 
nance entirely  in  the  exterior  practice  of  disciplining^  or 
flagellation,  and  other  fanatics  who  made  their  appear- 
ance about  this  time,  were  also  condemned.  The  peace 
of  the  Church  was  disturbed  in  this  age  by  the  great 
schism  that  began  in  the  West,  and  was  occasioned  by 
the  election  of  Clement  V.  who  being  a  Frenchman, 
fixed  his  residence  at  Avignon,  where  his  successors  con- 
tinued for  a  considerable  time.  Antipopes  were  set  up 
by  the  contending  parties,  and  the  schism  was  not  entirely 
extinguished  till  after  the  Council  of  Constance. 

The  succession  of  saints  was  kept  up  by  St.  Andrew 
Corsini,  bishop  of  Fiosela  ;  St.  John  Columbini,  founder 
of  the  Jesuati :  St.  Yvo,  a  priest  of  little  Britain  ;  St.  Roch 
of  Montpelier  ;  St.  John  of  Burlington  ;  St.  Peter  of  Lux- 
emburg, bishop  of  Mentz  ;  St.  John  Nepomucen,  martyr  ; 
St.  Elzear,  and  his  holy  spouse  St.  Delphina,  who  were  a 
noble  pattern  for  heads  of  families  ;  St.  Catharine  of 
Sienna ;  St.  Clare  of  Monte  Falco  near  Spoleto  ;  St. 
Elizabeth,  queen  of  Portugal ;  St.  Catharine  of  Sweden  ; 
St.  Agnes  of  Monte  Pulciano,  kc.  See  Dr.  Alb.  Butler, 
torn.  9.  p.  329.  and  tom.  5.  p.  217.  The  great  St.  Nicho- 
las of  Tolentin  died  about  the  beirinnino:  of  this  centurv, 
on  the  10th  of  September,  1306,  in  the  sixty-first  year  of 
his  age.  He  was  a  prodigy  of  penancis  and  mortification  ; 
his  ordinary  food  was  coarse  bread  with  pulse  or  herbs  ; 
his  bed  was  the  bare  floor,  with  a  stone  for  his  pillow. 
The  disciplines  and  iron  girdles  with  which  he  afllicted 
Ids  body  are  shown  to  this  day  in  Tolentin,  where  his 
sacred  relics  ai'e  deposited  in  a  stately  basilic.  Eugenius 
IV".  who  canonized  him  in  the  year  1446,  styled  him 
ThamnuturguSy  and  declared  that  no  saint  since  the  days 


Ill 

i 


CIltjRCH    OF    CHRIST.  291 

of  the  Apostles  adorned  the  Church  with  more  miracles. 
The  bull  of  his  canonization  alone  relates  upwards  of  three 
hundred  renowned  miracles,  strictly  examined  and  juridi- 
cally proved  by  the  solemn  testimonies  of  three  hundred 
and  seventy-one  witnesses,  among  whom  were  diflerent 
persons  who  had  been  raised  to  life  by  his  intercession. 
These  and  such  like  miracles  are  not  however  proposed 
as  parts  of  Divine  revelation,  or  articles  of  faith,  to  be 
equally  assented  to  with  the  miracles  that  are  recorded  in 
the  holy  scriptures,  but  they  rest  upon  their  bare  histori- 
cal authority,  and  deserve  at  least  the  same  prudent  as- 
sent, human  belief,  and  credit,  that  is  given  to  other  facts, 
attested  by  great  numbers  of  eye-witnesses,  examined  by 
authority,  and  found  upon  record,  or  related  upon  good 
grounds  in  profane  history.  Nothing  can  be  more  vmjust 
tiian  to  charge  the  Church  with  pationising  forgeries,  or 
countenancing  falise  legends.  So  far  from  this,  that  she 
condemns  all  kidids  of  forgeries  relating  to  religion,  as  lies 
of  the  most  criminal  and  the  most  heinous  nature,  and 
that  her  councils  and  bishops  have  been  always  most  se- 
vere in  detecting  and  punishing  them.  See  the  decrees  of 
the  fourth  council  of  Lateran,  and  of  the  council  of  Trent 
against  counterfeit  miracles  and  relics.  Yet  a  little  in- 
credulity, accompanied  with  a  presumption  of  measuring 
od's  works  by  the  short  line  of  human  wisdom,  will  make 
the  best  attested  miracles  pass  for  forgeries  and  absurd 
impossibilities.  Is  not  every  thing  ridiculous  and  absurd 
to  unbelievers  ?  Is  not  the  whole  doctrine  of  Christ  a 
scandal  to  the  Jews,  and  ci  folly  to  the  Gentiles  ?  Take  away 
faith,  and  see  what  will  become  of  the  miracles  recounted 
in  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  where  we  read  that  God, 
for  the  manifestation  of  his  glory  and  goodness,  has  been 
pleased  to  favour  many  of  his  servants  with  the  gift  of 
miracles,  and  where  Christ  our  Lord  has  promised  that 
is  disciples  should  work  greater  miracles  than  himself  had 
rought ;  that  in  his  name  they  should  cast  out  devils,  and 
ical  all  kind  of  disorders  :  See  an  excellent  treatise  of  Dr. 
Hays,  On  Miracles,  printed  in  the  year  1789. 

This  century  was  auspicious  to  the  cultivation  of  letters. 
The  hard  servitude  of  the  people  under  their  immediate 
Lords,  who  were  a  kind  of  subaltern  sovereigns  in  their 
own  estates,  with  many  severe  customs  concerning  vas- 
salages being  abolished  in  France  and  some  other  coun- 


292  HISTORY  OF  THE 

tries,  studies  began  to  flourish  exceedingly,  and  great  en- 
couragement and  protection  were  held  out  by  many  zeal- 
ous patrons  of  the  sciences.  The  depravation  of  taste 
imder  the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire  had  begun,  and 
the  inundations  of  the  barbarians  completed  the  fall  of 
the  polite  arts  in  the  West.  However,  the  sciences  of 
faith  and  piety  never  languished  in  the  Church  of  Christ. 
Sacred  learning  was  always  cultivated,  even  in  what  are 
called  the  dark  ages.  The  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
was  never  neglected.  They  were  carefully  delivered 
down,  and  accurately  corrected  from  the  Hebrew  under 
Charlemagne,  and  under  St.  Lewis,  with  learned  notes 
from  the  Hebrew,  70,  Origen,  St.  Jerom,  Stc.  long  before 
the  revival  of  the  belles  lettres  and  the  invention  of  the 
art  of  printing.  All  the  great  monasteries  had  public  li- 
braries and  Scriptoriums,  where  numbers  of  religious  men 
■were  employed  in  copying  and  transcribing  books,  at  the 
hours  allotted  to  manual  labour.  Ecolah^es,  or  Scholas- 
tics, were  established  in  Cathedrals,  and  great  care  was 
taken  by  the  Clergy  to  preserve  and  restore  ancient 
literature.  The  very  names  of  Lanfranc,  St.  Stephen 
Harding,  abbot  of  Citeau,  Raymond  Martini,  Nicholas  of 
liyra,  Porket  Salvage,  a  Carthusian  monk  of  Genoa,  Paul 
of  Burgos,  Austin  Justiniani,  Houbigand,  a  French  ora- 
torian,  &c.  ought  alone  to  stop  the  mouth  of  slander. 
Who  was  it  that  transplanted  and  revived  the  Greek  lan- 
guage and  authors,  and  with  them  all  polite  arts  and  lite- 
rature in  the  West }  says  the  elegant  Protestant  author 
of  the  Minute  Philosopher j  Dial.  5.  n.  25.  T.  1.  p.  324. 
Was  it  not  chiefly  Bessarion,  a  Cardinal,  Marcus  Masu- 
rus  an  archbishop,  Theodore  Gaza,  a  private  clergyman.' 
Has  there  been  a  greater  and  more  renowned  patron  and 
restorer  of  elegant  studies  in  every  kind  since  the  days  of 
Augustus  Caesar,  than  Leo  X.  Pope  of  Rome?  Did  any 
writers  approach  the  purity  of  the  classics  nearer  than  the 
Cardinals  Bembus  and  Sadoletus,  or  than  the  bishops  Jo- 
vius  and  Vida?  not  to  mention  an  endless  number  of 
Cistercians,  French  Benedictines,  and  other  learned  eccle- 
siastics, who  have  eminently  excelled  in  all  the  branches 
of  polite  literature.  Several  universities  were  founded  in 
this  century:  one  at  Avignon,  in  the  year  1303,  another 
at  Orleans,  in  1305,  another  in  Dublin,  in  1320,  another 
at  Pisa,  in  1339,  another  at  Angers,  in  1346,  another  at 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  293 

Heidelberg,  the  same  year,  another  at  Prague,  in  1358, 
another  at  Orange,  in  1347,  another  at  Geneva,  in  1365, 
another  at  Vienna,  about  the  year  1390,  another  at  Si- 
enna, in  1387,  and  another  at  Cologne,  in  1388.  i 
The  most  celebrated  writers  of  this  century  were  John 
Duns  Scotus,  who  died  at  Cologne  in  1308  ;  Augustine  (f£ 
Ancona  ;  WiUiam  Ockam,  a  native  of  Surry  in  England, 
and  head  of  the  Nominal  philosophers,  who,  in  opposition 
to  the  Realists,  maintain,  that  words,  not  things,  are  the 
objects  of  dialectic  ;  John  Bacon  ;  Petrus  Aureolus  ;  Ni- 
colaus  Lyranus  ;  Gregory  of  Ariminum  ;  Thomas  de  Ar- 
gentina ;  Jacobus  Viterbiensis ;  Alphonsus  Vargas  ;  Pe- 
lagius  Alvarus  ;  Durandus,  a  Sancto  Portiano  ;  Herva^us  ; 
Francis  Mayro  ;  Monaldus  ;  Petrus  Paludanus  ;  Guido 
Carmelita ;  Ludolphus  Carthusianus  ;  John  of  Burlington  ; 
Richard  of  Hampole  ;  Simon  de  Cassia  ;  John  Taulerus  ; 
John  Rusbrochius  ;  Antonius  Arragonius  ;  Thomas  Bra- 
duardinus  ;  Alexander  de  Sancto  Epidio  ;  Jacobus  Tolo- 
sanus  ;  Jordon  of  Saxony  ;  Henry  Suso,  tiie  author  of  se- 
veral pious  tracts,  &c.  Lithuania  was  gained  over  to  the 
Church  of  this  century,  by  the  conversion  of  the  grand 
duke,  Wladislaus,  and  his  people. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Tlie  Church  of  the  Fifteenth  Cenlwry. 

THE  Apostolic  chair  was  filled  in  this  age  by  Innocent 
II.  from  the  17th  of  October,  1104,  till  the  6th  of  No- 
vember, 1406.  Gregory  XII.  succeeded  him,  on  the  20th 
of  the  same  month  and  year,  was  deposed  on  the  26th  of 
June,  1409,  and  died  at  Recanati  in  1417.  Alexander 
V.  sat  from  June,  1409,  till  the  3d  of  May,  1410.  John 
XXIII.,  being  elected  at  Bologna,  on  the  17th  of  the  same 
month  and  year,  was  deposed  on  the  29th  of  May,  1415, 
and  died  at  Florence  on  the  22d  of  December,  1419. 
Martin  V.  was  chosen  on  the  11th  of  November,  1417, 
and  sat  twelve  years,  three  months,  and  twelve  days,  ac- 
cording to  an  inscription  on  his  brass  monument  in  the 
Lateran  Basilic.  Eugenius  IV.  succeeded  him,  and  died 
in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  pontificate.  Nicholas  V.  his 
B  b  2 


294  HisroRY  OF  Tiii; 

successor,  died  in  March,  1455.  Calixtus  III.  iieid  the 
pontificate  from  the  8th  of  April,  1455,  till  the  6th  of 
August,  1458.  Pius  II.  being  elected  the  same  year,  on 
the  27th  of  August,  died  on  the  14th  of  August,  1464. 
On  his  demise,  Paul  11.  being  raised  to  the  pontificate, 
viva  voce,  by  the  means  of  Cardinal  Bessarion,  died  on 
the  26th  of  July,  1471.  Sixtus  IV.  succeeded  him,  and 
sat  till  the  13th  of  August,  1484.  Innocent  VIII.  was 
elected  on  the  29th  of  the  same  month,  and  died  in  July, 
1492.  Alexander  VI.  was  chosen  the  same  year,  on  the 
nth  of  August,  and  died  on  the  18th  of  August,  1503. 
On  him  the  following  distich  was  made: 

*'  Visuram  se  iterum  Sixtum  cum  Roma  putardy 
"  Pro  Sixto  Sextum  viditj  ct  ingemuit.'*^ 

When  Rome  another  Shius  toish^d  retuni'd, 
A  Sextus  she  beheld,  and  deeply  mourned. 

In  this  century  the  peace  of  the  Church  was  greatly 
disturbed  by  a  long  schism.  Italy  suffered  great  loss  by 
the  absence  of  the  popes,  and  the  city  of  Rome  in  par- 
ticular, was  torn  by  different  factions.  The  Romans  com- 
plained that  their  bishops  had  for  seventy-four  years  past, 
forsaken  their  Church,  and  they  ardently  wished  for,  and 
earnestly  solicited,  their  return  from  Avignon.  In  fine, 
Gregory  XI.  yielding  to  their  pressing  entreaties  and  im- 
portunities, removed  his  seat  from  Avignon  on  the  13th  of 
September,  1376,  and  was  received  at  Rome,  amidst  the 
acclamations  of  the  people,  with  the  most  lively  demon- 
strations of  joy.  After  his  death  th«  Romans,  fearing 
lest  the  new  Pope,  if  he  happened  to  be  a  Frenchman, 
might  fix  his  residence  again  at  Avignon,  assembled  in 
crowds  about  the  palace  where  the  cardinals  were  deli- 
berating, and  cried  out.  We  loill  have  a  Roman  Pope.  To 
these  seditious  clamours  they  added  menaces.  The  car- 
dinals being  intimidated,  named  the  archbishop  of  Bari, 
who  took  the  name  of  Urban  VI.  Sixteen  of  the  car- 
dinals being  afterwards  dissatisfied  with  their  choice,  de- 
parted from  Rome,  declared  their  election  null,  because 
it  was  not  free,  and  elected  another  Pope,  under  the 
name  of  Clement  VII.  This  unhappy  affair  threw  the 
Church  into  a  dreadful  confusion.  Christendom  was  di- 
vided between  two  Popes:  Clement  was  acknowledged 
JQ- France,  in  Spain,  in  Scotland,  and  Sicily  ;  whilst  En- 


I 


,  eilURCH  OF  CHRIST.  295 

gland,  Hungary,  Bohemia,  and  a  part  of  Germany,  de- 
clared for  Urban.  The  death  of  Urban  did  not  terminate 
the  schism,  the  cardinals  of  his  obedience,  as  they  were 
then  called,  having  elected  a  successor,  which  the  opposite 
party  likewise  did  on  their  side.  These  dismal  scenes  were 
frequently  renewed.  In  the  year  1409,  the  cardinals, 
afflicted  at  the  continuance  of  so  scandalous  a  division 
among  the  faithful,  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  it,  and  for 
this  purpose  they  united  in  the  council  of  Pisa,  and  hav- 
ing withdrawn  their  obedience  from  the  two  contending 
popes,  Gregory  XII.  and  Benedict  XIII.  they  unanimously 
elected  Alexander  V.  This  council  was  composed  of 
tw«nty-two  cardinals,  twenty-four  archbishops,  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-two  bishops,  with  above  three  hundred  ab- 
bots and  theologians.  But  all  their  efforts  proved  ineffec- 
tual, the  schism  still  continued,  and  the  evil  consequences 
increased.  The  obstinacy  of  the  popes,  the  jealousy  of  the 
cardinals  on  both  sides,  and  the  different  interests  of  the 
crowned  heads,  seemed  to  forebode  a  perpetual  continu- 
ance of  the  schism,  if  God,  who  promised  not  to  abandon  his 
Church,  had  not  removed  all  the  obstacles  which  the  human 
passions  opposed  to  the  re-establishment  of  union.  His 
Divine  Providence  was  pleased  at  length  to  accomplish  this 
great  work  in  the  sixteenth  general  council,whichwas  assem- 
bled in  1414,  at  Constance  in  Germany,  near  Switzerland. 
John  XXIII.  Sigismond  the  emperor,  four  patriarchs,  forty- 
three  archbishops,  one  hundred  and  sixty  bishops,  and  up- 
wards of  a  hundred  and  sixty  abbots  and  eminent  theo- 
logians, were  present  at  this  council.  All  the  pretenders 
to  the  popedom  being  cited  to  appear,  either  abdicated 
voluntarily,  or  were  deposed,  and  Martin  V.  was  canon- 
ically  elected,  and  generally  acknowledged  for  the  only 
lawful  head  of  the  Church.  Thus  ended  the  schism,  after 
having  continued  thirty-six  years.  In  this  extraordinary 
case,  the  Church  had  full  power  to  assemble  herself  thus 
in  a  general  council,  in  order  to  proceed  to  the  election  of 
a  pope,  whose  title  should  be  unquestionable.  This  is 
what  she  did  in  the  council  of  Constance,  which,  as  car- 
dinal Turrecremata  observes,  was  but  a  continuation  of 
the  council  of  Pisa.  Whilst  the  election  of  the  contend- 
ing popes  continued  doubtful,  the  papal  chair  might  be 
considered  in  effect  the  same  as  vacant,  and  the  faithful 
in  the  interim  might  rest  as  fully  convinced  of  the  infalli- 


290  HISTORY    OP    THE 

bility  of  the  public  doctrine  of  the  Church,  as  of  the  in- 
falHbility  of  the  Gospels,  though  the  persons  who  wrote 
them  were  men  subject  to  human  passions.  The  whole 
difference  being  about  a  matter  of  fact,  that  is,  about  the 
validity  of  the  election  of  the  popes,  the  people  were  not 
on  this  account  the  less  attached  to  the  apostolic  see  and 
chair  of  St.  Peter.  They  still  continued  to  believe  that 
there  was  but  one  visible  head  of  the  Church,  and  that 
he  only  who  had  been  canonically  elected,  was  this  head 
and  the  true  pontiff.  They  were  not,  indeed,  competent 
judges,  in  the  concurrence  of  different  pretenders,  to  dis- 
cern which  of  them  was  the  lawful  pope,  or  which  of 
them  had  been  duly  elected  ;  but  in  this  case  they  might, 
with  a  safe  conscience,  follow  the  opinion  and  directions 
of  their  respective  pastors,  as  St.  Antoninus  remarks. 

Besides  the  extinction  of  the  long  schism,  another  ob- 
ject, which  the  council  of  Constance  had  in  view,  was  the 
suppression  of  the  heretical  errors  of  Wiclef,  a  doctor  of 
Oxford,  which  John  Huss,  rector  of  the  university  of 
Prague,  and  Jerom  his  disciple,  w^ere  spreading  at  that 
time  through  Bohemia,  until  they  were  condemned,  de- 
graded, and  handed  over  to  the  civil  power  in  the  year 
1415.  The  Hussties  raised  great  commotions  in  that  king- 
dom for  about  one  hundred  years,  and  filled  it  with  civil 
wars,  tumults,  bloodshed,  plunders,  sacrileges,  the  ruin  of 
famihes,  and  every  other  sort  of  calamity.  The  New 
Adamiies,  the  JFossarii,  and  Tliaborites,  gave  great  scan- 
dal, and  perpetrated  the  most  horrid  crimes.  The  Calix- 
linSj  so  called  from  their  belief  of  the  necessity  of 
communion  under  both  kinds,  painted  the  form  of  a  chalice 
in  so  many  places,  that  they  gave  occasion  to  the  follow- 
ing distich: 

"  Tot  pingit  Calices  JBohemormn  terra  per  Urbes^ 
^*  Ut  credas  Bacchi  numina^  sola  coliy 

So  many  cups  Bohemia  does  afford, 
You'd  fancy  Bacchus  only   ivas  ador'^d 

John  Zisca,  a  veteran  general  and  a  follower  of  John 
Huss,  having  assembled  a  powerful  army,  plundered  that 
whole  country  with  unheard  of  barbarity,  and  built  the 
strong  fortress,  which  he  called  Thahor,  amidst  waters  and 
mountains.  He  defeated  the  emperor  Sigismond's  armies 
eight  times,  and  when  he  was  dying  of  a  pestilence  at 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  297 

Prisroii,  in  the  jear  1424,  he  ordered  a  drum  to  be  made 
of  his  skin  to  terrify  his  enemies. 

In  the  midst  of  all  the  foregoing  scandals,  the  grand 
design  of  God,  which  is  the  sanctification  of  his  elect, 
was  brougiit  about  and  accomplished,  and  the  succession 
of  saints  was  kept  up  by  St.  Antoninus,  archbishop  of 
Florence  ;  St.  Vincent  Ferrerius  ;  St.  Laurence  Justmian, 
patriarch  of  Venice  ;  St.  Bernardinus  of  Sienna  ;  St. 
Thomas  of  Kempis  ;  St.  John  Capistran  ;  St.  Nicholas 
Albergati  ;  St.  John  of  Sahagun  ;  St.  Didacus  ;  St. 
James  de  la  Marcha  ;  St.  Casimir,  prince  of  Poland  ;  St. 
Frances  of  Rome  ;  St.  Catharine  of  Bologna ;  St.  Ca- 
tharine of  Genoa  ;  St.  Jane  of  France  ;  St.  Coleta ;  St. 
Anthony  of  Amandula ;  St.  Andrew  de  Monte  Regalia ;  St. 
Anthony  of  Aquila  ;  St.  Veronica  of  Binasco  ;  St.  Rita  of 
Cassia;  St.  Francis  of  Paula,  the  founder  of  the  religious 
order  of  the  3Iinims jWiih  many  others,who  were  eminent  for 
the  gift  of  miracles,  and  who  edified  the  world  by  the  sweet 
odour  of  their  virtues.  See  Alban  Butler,  torn.  4.  p.  10. 
,  The  faith  was  iu  this  century  preached  with  great  suc- 
cess in  the  kingdoms  of  Congo  and  Angola  in  Afric,  and 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Canary  Islands  were  gained 
over  to  the  Church  of  Christ.  Five  and  twenty  thou- 
sand Jews  and  Moors  were  also  converted,  and  a  prodi- 
gious number  of  Schismatics  and  of  bad  Christians  were 
reclaimed  by  the  preaching,  labours,  and  miracles  of  St. 
Vincent  Ferrerius. 

St.  Laurence  Justinian,  says  Dr.  Cave,  was  a  prelate 
admirable  for  his  sincere  piety  towards  God,  the  ardour 
of  his  zeal  for  the  divine  honour,  and  the  excess  of  his 
charity  to  the  poor,  which  seemed  a  sea  that  could  not  be 
drained.  His  writings  consist  of  sermons,  letters,  and 
fourteen  treatises  of  piety,  full  of  unction.  He  was  con- 
stituted by  Nicholas  V.  first  Patriarch  of  Venice. 

There  were  but  three  patriarchs  acknowledged  in  the 
Church  until  the  fourth  century.  The  bishop  of  Rome 
was  the  patriarch  of  the  West,  and  the  bishops  of  the 
great  sees  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch  were  the  patriarchs 
of  the  East.  Afterwards  the  patriarchal  dignity  was  con- 
ferred on  Jerusalem,  on  account  of  its  sanctity;  and  Con- 
.stantinople,  on  account  of  the  Imperial  seat,  usurped  the 
patriarchal  right  in  the  year  381,  but  not  without  much 
opposition.     For  peace  saKe  it  was  at  length  agreed  to  by 


293  HISTORY    OF    THE 

a  decree  of  the  Council  of  Lateran,  in  the  year  1215,  that 
next  after  Rome,  Constantinople  should  hold  thjg  second 
rank,  Alexandria  the  third,  Antioch  the  fourth,  and  Jeru- 
salem the  fifth.  The  title  of  Vicar  of  Jesus  Chrisi  was 
always  peculiar  to  the  bishops  of  Rome,  as  is  manifest 
from  the  fifteenth  letter  of  St.  Cyprian  to  Pope  Cor- 
nehus. — The  title  of  Pa^ja,  or  Pope,  which  signifies  Father y 
was  anciently  common  to  all  bishops,  they  being  the  Fa- 
thers of  the  Church.  For  many  ages  past  custom  has 
confined  this  title  to  the  bishop  of  Rome  only,  who  in 
quality  of  head  of  the  whole  Church,  and  successor  of 
St.  Peter,  who  fixed  his  apostolic  seat  and  died  in  Rome, 
is  the  spiritual  father  of  all  the  faithful.  Some  writers 
say  that  the  word  Papa  comes  from  the  initial  letters  of 
these  four  words,  Petrus,  Apostolus,  Princcps,  Aposiolonunj 
which  being  abbreviated  with  a  punctum  or  colon  after 
each  of  the  four  initial  letters,  coalesced  in  progress  of 
time  into  the  word  Papa,  without  any  intermediate  punc- 
tuation. Hence  it  follows,  that  Baron  Holberg  and  some 
other  historians  are  greatly  mistaken,  when  they  assert 
that  the  order  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Hierarchy  was  intro- 
duced in  the  eighth  century  ;  it  being  evident  from  the- 
sixth  and  seventh  canons  of  the  first  General  Council  of 
Nice,  and  from  the  first  Council  of  Ephesus,  that  Me- 
tropolitans and  Archbishops  had  been  previously  esta- 
blished. Bingham  in  his  Antiquities  also  proves  that  the 
title  of  Archbishop  was  mentioned  by  Justinian  in  the 
sixth  century.  The  truth  is,  that  the  institution  of  Bi- 
shops, Metropolitans  or  Archbishops,  Primates  and  Pa- 
triarchs, originated  in  the  practice  of  the  Apostles,  who, 
as  Eusebius  and  St.  John  Chrysostom  observe,  committed 
the  care  of  the  churches  in  Crete  to  Titus,  and  intrusted 
Timothy  with  the  superintendence  of  all  the  churches  in 
Asia  Minor,  to  direct  all  the  pubUc  and  common  afiairs 
of  them. 

St.  Antoninus,  archbishop  of  Florence,  was  eminent  for 
his  writings,  as  well  as  for  his  piety.  His  principal  work 
is  his  Sum  of  Moral  Divinity,  divided  into  four  parts, 
wherein  all  virtues  and  vices  are  explained  ;  the  former 
enforced  by  pathetic  motives  and  examples,  aiul  the  latter 
painted  in  the  mast  striking  colours,  to  inspire  Christians 
with  horror,  St.  John  Capistran  wrote  some  tracts  on 
ih€  Council  of  Basil ,  on  the  Last  Judgment ,  on  the  Spiritual^ 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  S99 

IVarfarCy  on  Hie  Civil  and  Canon  Law,  Sfc.  The  works  of 
St,  jBornanline  are  printed  in  five  volumes  folio.  The 
■works  of  Thomas  of  Kempis,  a  canon  regular  of  the  order 
of  St.  Augustine,  bear  evident  testimony  to  his  extraordi- 
nary sanctity,  especially  the  incomparable  book  of  the 
Lnitalion  of  Christy  whereof  he  is  said  to  be  the  author,  or 
at  least  the  copier.  It  is  the  privilege  of  this  book  to  be 
tlie  pocket  companion  of  devout  persons,  as  it  is  the 
genuine  effusion  of  a  perfect  Christian  spirit.  Fontenelle 
calls  it  the  most  excellent  book  that  ever  came  from  the 
hand  of  man,  the  holy  scriptures  being  of  divine  original. 
The  Spirilual  Combat  may  be  called  its  key,  or  introduc- 
tion. That  great  contemplative  Thomas  of  Kempis  died 
in  1471,  in  the  91st  year  of  his  age.  About  the  same  pe- 
riod died  also  the  renowned  prodigy  of  wit  and  learning, 
John  Picus,  prince  of  Mirandula,  in  the  32d  year  of  his 
age.  The  following  epitaph  was  engraved  on  his  tomb  ; 

Joannes  jacet  hie  Mirandula,  ccetera  norunt 
Kt  TaguSj  el  Ganges yforsan  et  Antipodes. 

Of  John  Mirandida,  here  all  does  lie 
That  mortal  was,  and  that  could  ever  die  : 
For  tvhat  viHuc,  learning,  sense  could  him  givCj 
Throughout  the  world  his  fame  shall  ever  live. 

There  were  several  other  celebrated  writers  in  this  cen- 
tury, particidarly  Cardinal  Peter  de  Alliaco,  and  John 
Gerson,  his  disciple.  Cardinal  John,  a  Turrecremata,  Car- 
dinal Nicholas  Cusa,  Bessarion,  archbishop  of  Nice,  Gre- 
gory, archbishop  of  Constantinople,  Gabriel  Biel,  Joannes 
Capriolus,  Thomas  Walden,  Paulus  Utinensis,  Andreas 
Bilius,  Dionysius  Carthusianus,  Gennadius,  Joseph,  bishop 
pf  Modion,  Jacobus  Perez,  Henricus  Harpius,  Paulus 
Burgensis,  Honuphrius,  and  Alphonsus  Tostatus,  of  whom 
it  is  said  : 


I 


Hie  stupor  est  mundiy  qui  scibile  discutit  Omne, 

Here  7'esis,  tilt  summoned  to  ih^  Almighty  Tlirone^ 
A  prodigy,  who  knew  all  could  he  known. 


In  the  year  1418  near  two  thousand  students  were  put 
^  to  death  by  the  people,  in  a  sedition  at  Paris,  and  the 
"same  year  the  Portuguese  began  the  discovery  of  Madeira, 


300  HISTORY    OF    THE 

and  several  other  islands  on  the  Western  coast  of  Africa, 
and  found  a  passage  by  sea  to  the  East  Indies,  with  which 
no  commerce  was  then  open,  but  through  Egypt  or  Per- 
sia. Americus  Vespusius,  a  Florentine,  discovered  Bra- 
zil in  1497,  and  Vasco  de  Gama,  the  Portuguese  admiral, 
doubled  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in  1498,  and  having  dis- 
covered the  coast  of  Mozambique,  and  the  city  of  Melin- 
da,  upon  the  African  coast,  he  sailed  thence  to  Calicut 
in  the  East  Indies.  The  art  of  printing  with  types  cast  in 
metal  was  invented  about  the  year  1440,  and  propagated 
through  Germany,  France,  Italy,  England,  &c.  The  first 
book  that  was  printed  was  Duramli  Rationale  Divinorum 
Officiorum.  It  came  from  the  new  press  of  John  Fust  and 
Peter  Schoeffer,  his  partner,  who  were  aided  in  their  ex- 
pensive enterprise  by  John  Chiilenburg,  a  native  of  Ment^, 
settled  then  at  Strasburgh.  The  pohte  arts  received  great 
improvement  from  the  invention  of  printing,  especially 
after  the  taking  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks,  for  the 
Grecian  scholars  being  then  exiled  and  scattered  over  the 
West,  brought  into  it  all  the  Oriental  learning,  and  gave 
no  small  support  to  the  cultivation  of  letters,  first  in  Italy, 
and  afterwards  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  A  new  plan  of 
education  was  then  adopted,  public  schools  were  opened 
for  the  improvement  of  youth,  and  several  academies  were 
established,  particularly  at  Herbipolis,  in  Franconia,  in 
1403,  at  Tours  in  1405,  at  Leipsic  in  1408,  at  Louvain  in 
1426,  at  Valentia  in  1452,  at  Nantz  and  Fribourg  in  1460, 
at  Basil  in  1459,  at  Ingolstadt  in  1472,  at  Copenhagen  in 
1479,  at  Strasburg  in  1487,  at  Munsier,  in  Westphalia,  in 
1490,  &c. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

The  seventeenth  General  Council  held  at  Florence,  for  the 
extinction  of  the  Greek  schism,  Sfc. 

CANONISTS  and  theologians  require  to  a  general 
council  the  presence  of  the  chief  patriarchs,  as  principal 
prelates,  (at  least  by  their  deputies,)  and  of  bishops,  from 
the  different  kingdoms  of  the  CathoHc  Church,  who  repre- 
sent the  body  of  the  pastors  of  the  whole  Church.     The 


OHUIIQH    OF    CHRIST.  301 

confirmation  of  the  chief  pastor  is  also  deemed,  by  most 
divines,  a  necessary  condition.     If  doubts  arise  whether 
a  conncil  be  general,  it  is  to  be  considered  whether  it  be 
looked  upon  by  the  Church  as  such,  and  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  whole  ;  or  whether  the  whole  Church  re- 
ceives and  acquiesces  in  its  decisions  ;  which  the  faithful, 
having  their  pastors  and  teachers  always  ready  to  instruct 
them,  cannot  in  practice  be  at  a  loss  to  know,  though  this 
may  sometimes  be  obscure,  till  circumstances  are  cleared 
up.     The  aforesaid  conditions  were  wanting  at  Basil  after 
the  tenth  session.     That  council  was  continued  eighteen 
years,  first  at  Basil,  afterwards  at  Lausanne.   Its  proceed- 
ings in  1433,  concerning  the  Hussites,  and  some  points  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  were  approved  and  confirmed  by 
Eugenius  IV.  who,  during  the  tenth  session,  ordered  the 
council  to  be  removed,  and  from  this  time  his  legates  were 
refused  admittance.     Wherefore,  it  is  allowed  by  most, 
that  this  council  was  legal  and  general  in  the  beginning, 
but  it  became   afterwards  a  particular  synod  and  schis- 
matical  conventicle,  especially  when  it  was  solemnly  dis- 
solved by  a  bull  of  Eugenius,  and  a  general  council  open- 
ed at  Ferrara  in  1437.  Turrecremata,  and  a  considerable 
part  of  the  prelates  that  were  assembled  at  Basil,  removed 
then,  after  the  twenty-sixth  session,  but  some  staid  behind, 
and  contiiuied   their   sessions   schismatic  ally  during  the 
forty-five  last  sessions.  In  1438  they  approved  the  French 
pragmatic  sanction  of  Charles  VII.  relating  chiefly  to  the 
collation  of  benefices,  and  in  1439  they  prevailed  upon 
Amadeus  VII.  formerly  duke  of  Savoy,  and  then  a  hermit 
Rt  Ripalles,  near  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  to  receive  from 
ihem,  under  the  name  of  Felix  V.  a  pretended  pontificate, 
which  he  afterwards  voluntarily  resigned  in  1449. 

The  true  general  council  met  first  at  Ferrara  in  1437, 
and  thither  John  Palseologus,  the  Greek  emperor — Joseph, 
the  patriarch  of  Constantinople — with  the  other  prelates, 
l-epaired.  After  sixteen  sessions  a  contagious  distemper 
breaking  out  at  Ferrara,  the  council  was  removed  by  Eu- 
genius IV.  to  Florence,  in  1439  ;  and  the  same  year,  on 
the  6th  of  July,  after  all  difficulties  had  been  discussed, 
the  reunion  of  the  Western,  or  Latin  Church,  and  of  the 
Eastern,  or  Greek  Church,  was  agreed  to,  and  a  decree 
%vas  drawn  up  for  that  purpose.  The  Greek  emperor — 
the  deputies  of  the  patriarchs  of  Ale^i^andria,  Antioch,  and 
C  c 


302  Hisroiiv  OF  the 

Jerusalem — with  sixteen  Oriental  metropolitans,  or  arch- 
bishops— several  bishops — ten  abbots  ;  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  other  Greek  dignitaries  and  ecclesiastics  of  distin- 
guished abilities,  having  renounced  their  schism  and  errors, 
openly  professed  according  to  the  faith  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeded  from 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  that  the  Pope  was  head  of 
the  Universal  Church.  They  all,  Greeks  as  well  as  La- 
tins, embraced  one  another  in  token  of  union  and  mutual 
charity,  and  subscribed  the  decree,  except  Marky  arch- 
bishop of  Ephesus.  After  the  departure  of  the  Greeks, 
the  Armenians  abjured  their  here-sy,  and  also  signed  a  de- 
cree of  union.  This  council  lasted  three  years  after  the 
conclusion  of  this  momentous  affair,  and  was  at  length 
dissolved  at  Rome,  in  the  Lateran  palace,  in  1442. 

The  eyes  of  all  Christendom  had  been  attentively  fixed 
on  this  council,  and  the  happy  issue  of  it  diffused  univer- 
sal joy  through  the  Church.  But  this  bright  sun-shine  of 
concord  and  joy  had  only  emerged  from  one  cloud  to  be 
intercepted  by  another,  for  the  Greeks,  thus  brought  back 
to  the  bosom  of  their  mother  Church,  relapsed  shortly 
again  into  their  former  schism.  The  obstinate  prelate, 
Mark  of  Ephesus,  on  his  return  to  Constantinople,  finding 
the  people  of  that  city  violently  prepossessed  against  the 
union,  availed  himself  of  this  opportunity  to  declaim  and 
write  against  it.  An  inundation  of  libels  soon  appeared, 
fraught  with  virulence,  calumnies,  and  falsehoods.  Those 
who  had  subscribed  the  decree  were  bitterly  reviled,  and 
treated  with  so  much  cruelty,  that  many  of  them  lost 
courage,  yielded  to  the  stream,  and  gave  up  the  cause. 

Pope  Nicholas  V.  a  pontiff  of  remarkable  piety  and 
learning,  grieving  at  the  invincible  obstinacy  of  the  Greeks, 
and  reflecting  on  the  repeated  and  unsuccessful  labours, 
which  had  been  taken  for  their  conversion,  wrote  to  them 
a  letter  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1451,  in  which  he 
exhorted  them  in  a  pathetic  manner  to  open  their  eyes  to 
their  past  stubbornness,  and  to  re-unite  themselves  to  the 
Cathohc  Church.  He  addressed  himself  in  particular  to 
Constantine  Palseologus,  their  emperor,  in  the  following 
words  :  "The  Greeks  have  already  too  long  abused  the 
*'  patience  of  God,  in  persisting  in  their  schism.  Accord- 
"  ing  to  the  parable  of  the  Gospel,  God  waits  to  see  if 
*'  the  fig-tree,  after  having  been  cultivated  with  so  much 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  303 

'^  care,  will  at  last  yield  fruit ;  but  if  it  does  not,  within 
''  the  space  of  three  years,  which  God  still  allows  them, 
''  the  tree  will  be  cut  down  by  the  root,  and  the  Greek 
'^  nation  shall  be  entirely  ruined  by  the  ministers  of*Divine 
*'  Justice,  which  God  will  send  to  execute  the  sentence 
••'  already  pronounced  in  Heaven  against  them." 

This  prediction  was  literally  accomplished,  for  in  the 
year  1453,  Mahomet  II.  having  besieged  Constantinople 
with  a  land  army  of  three  hundred  thousand  men,  and  a 
ileet  of  above  one  hundred  gallies,  with  a  hundred  and 
thirty  other  smaller  vessels,  began  a  general  assault  both 
by  sea  and  land,  on  the  29th  of  May,  early  in  the  morn- 
ing. He  animated  his  troops  so  surprisingly,  that  they 
advanced  through  the  most  violent  fire  of  the  besieged, 
and  a  storm  of  darts  and  stones,  over  the  dead  bodies  of 
those  that  were  slain,  till  they  became  masters  of  the 
city.  A  janizary  having  planted  the  Turkish  standard  on 
the  top  of  the  wall,  the  Turks  immediately  poured  in  like 
a  torrent,  at  a  breach  which  they  had  made  by  shooting 
stone  bullets  of  two  hundred  pounds  weight  from  fourteeu 
batteries,  as  Phranzes,  the  Greek  historian,  relates.  The 
emperor  and  eight  hundred  of  his  soldiers  were  trod  to 
death  in  the  breach,  by  the  barbarians,  and  the  fugitives 
were  slaughtered  without  mercy.  It  is  computed  that 
forty  tho\isand  Greeks  perished  on  this  unhappy  occasion, 
besides  sixty  thousand  who  were  afterwards  sold  for  slaves. 
Mahomet  allowed  his  victorioas  troops  to  plunder  the  city 
for  three  days,  during  which  they  gave  a  loose  to  the  hu- 
man passions,  were  guilty  of  all  kind  of  excesses,  and 
perpetrated  the  most  execrable  crimes  ever  recorded  in 
the  annals  of  history.  Mahomet  himself,  who  is  said  to 
have  caused  the  belhes  of  fourteen  of  his  own  pages  to  be 
ripped  open,  that  he  might  discover  w^hich  of  them  had 
eaten  a  melon  taken  from  him,  gave  manifest  proofs  of 
his  tyrannical  cruelty  on  this  occasion  ;  for  he  caused  the 
Kmperor's  head  to  be  cut  off  and  fixed  on  a  pike,  and  his 
body  to  be  treated  with  the  greatest  indignity  ;  he  ordered 
the  nobles  and  grandees  to  be  massacred  and  dissected, 
and  the  bodies  of  the  empress  and  her  daughters  to  be  cut 
in  pieces,  and  inhumanly  served  up  on  dishes  at  a  ban- 
quet. Yet  Divine  Providence,  for  its  own  wise  reasons, 
was  pleased  to  permit  this  monster  to  prosper  in  this  world, 
and  to  be  flushed  with  such  wonderful  success,  that  he 


304  HISTORY    OF  TUE 

overthrew  the  two  Christian  empires  of  Constantinople 
and  Trebisonde,  subdued  twelve  kingdoms,  and  took  about 
two  hundred  cities  during  his  reign.  He  immediately  re- 
moved his  imperial  seat  from  Adrianople  to  Constantino- 
ple, which  has  continued  ever  since  to  be  the  residence 
of  the  Turkish  emperors.  After  the  reduction  of  Constan- 
tinople, he  counted  the  Western  Empire  as  already  his 
own,  and  looked  upon  himself  as  master  of  all  Christen- 
dom, not  doubting  but  he  should  soon  plant  the  Ottoman 
crescent  in  the  heart  of  Europe,  and  in  the  cities  of  Vienna 
and  Rome.  He  mai'ched  his  victorious  troops  into  Hun- 
gary, and  sat  down  before  Belgrade  on  the  3d  of  June, 
1 456,  but  the  brave  John  Corvin,  commonly  called  Huri- 
niadeSj  compelled  him  to  raise  the  siege  on  the  6th  of  Au- 
;^ust,  and  to  retreat  with  great  precipitation,  leaving  be- 
hind him  all  his  heavy  artillery  and  baggage,  with  the 
greatest  part  of  his  booty,  and  sixty  thousand  of  his  best 
soldiers  killed.  The  Almighty,  whose  finger  is  able  to  over- 
throw phalanxes  that  seem  invincible,  w^as  pleased  to  make 
use  of  him  as  a  scourge  to  punish  the  crying  sins  of  the 
Greeks.  A  similar  fate  attended  the  empires  and  cities 
of  Ninive  and  Babylon,  Tyre,  Sidon,  and  Jerusalem  : 
when  the  people  of  God  had  renounced  their  fidelity  to 
him,  he  delivered  them  over  in  his  wrath  to  the  sword  of 
the  Pagans,  their  inveterate  enemies.  He  sent  Nabucho- 
donosor,  Vespasian,  and  Titus  to  scourge  them,  to  ravage 
their  country,  to  destroy  them  by  famine,  fire,  and  sword, 
and  to  carry  the  survivors  into  captivity.  So  true  it  is, 
that  a  deviation  from  the  laws  of  God  is  often  the  occa- 
sion of  the  calamities  which  sooner  or  later  befal  king- 
doms and  states,  and  terminate  in  their  utter  ruin.  The 
Western  Empire  was  sacrificed  for  the  extinction  of  Idola- 
try at  the  very  time  pre-ordained  by  God,  and  the  barba- 
rian Goths  and  Vandals  were  sent  as  instruments  of  divine 
vengeance,  to  demohsh  Pagan  Rome,  in  punishment  of  its 
crying  sins.  In  like  manner  the  Eastern  Empire  was 
marked  out  as  a  victim  of  destruction,  and  sentenced  to 
be  enslaved  by  a  barbarous  race,  who  are  the  greatest 
enemies  to  Christianity.  The  Turks  and  Mahometans 
were  employed  as  the  instruments  of  God's  avenging  jus- 
tice to  chastise  the  people  of  Constantinople,  and  swallow 
up  their  empire,  which  had  espoused  and  fostered  the 
heretical  and  schismatical  doctrines  of  the  Arians,  Mace- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  SOo 

(lonians,  Nestorians,  Eutychians,  Photians,  &.c.  The  Greeks 
had  rehnquished  the  orthodox  faith  of  their  ancestors,  and 
rejected  a  tenet  relating  to  the  procession  of  the  Holy- 
Ghost,  which  had  been  defined  by  the  Church  in  the  year 
381,  and  inserted  in  the  Nicene  Creed  by  the  general 
council  at  Constantinople.  It  is  certain  that  they  had 
been  seven  or  eight  hundred  years  in  communion  with 
the  Church  of  Rome,  and  that,  during  that  time,  they  ac- 
knowledged the  Pope  as  Visible  Head  of  the  Universal 
Church,  as  appears  from  the  first  seven  general  councils, 
which  were  held  in  the  East,  and  in  which  the  primacy  of 
the  Pope  had  been  authentically  acknowledged.  Photius 
himself,  who  had  sown  the  first  seeds  of  the  dissension  in 
the  ninth  century,  did  not  disagree.  The  Church  of  Con- 
stantinople never  pretended  but  to  be  the  second  Rome, 
and  to  hold  the  first  rank  after  her.  The  see  of  Rome 
was  on  all  hands  allowed  to  be  the  centre  of  unity,  and 
all  Christians  recited  the  Creed  then,  and  said,  after  the 
council  of  Constantinople,  as  they  now  say,  /  believe  the 
Church,  iviiich  is  one.  Holy,  Catholic,  and  Apostolic.  They 
unanimously  professed  that  there  was  a  true  Church  in 
the  world,  to  which  the  four  distinctive  characters  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  belonged.  They  believed  that  there 
was  a  society  on  earth  called  the  true  Church  of  Christ, 
and  composed  of  pastors  and  people,  and  that  the  Pope, 
or  bishop  of  Rome,  was  its  visible  head.  It  is  therefore 
true  to  say,  and  easy  to  show,  that  the  Greeks,  on  sepa- 
rating themselves  from  the  Church,  which  acknowledged 
the  Pope  for  its  visible  head,  and  which  was  incontestably 
the  true  Church  during  the  eight  first  centuries,  separated 
from  the  true  Church  of  Christ,  dissolved  the  chain  of 
unity,  and  withdrew  themselves  from  the  society  of  the 
faithful,  to  erect  a  difierent  society  that  did  not  exist  be- 
fore. In  fine,  they  have  condemned  themselves  iti  their  oicn 
judgment,  as  the  Apostle  speaks,  1  Tit,  10,  51.  They 
changed  their  faith  backwards  and  forwards  diflferent 
'  mes.  They  solemnly  renounced  their  errors,  and  sub- 
scribed to  their  own  condemnation  in  the  councils  of 
I^J^yons  and  Florence,  but  unhappily  relapsed  into  their 
^atal  schism  and  heresy.  Of  such  persons  St.  Jude  says, 
in  his  Catholic  Epistle,  v.  19.  and  22,  These  are  they  who 
separate  themselves  :  sensual  men,  having  not  the  spirit — be- 
ing reproved  and  judged.  God  in  his  mercy  waited  many 
Cc2 


306  HISTORY    OF   THE 

years  for  the  conversion  of  the  Greeks,  but  finding  them 
hardened  and  inflexible,  he  cut  them  off  at  length,  like 
the  barren  fig-tree.  In  fine,  when  the  measure  of  their 
iniquity  was  filled  up,  they  were  delivered  into  the  hands 
of  Barbarians,  and  have  ever  since  continued  to  groan 
under  the  Turkish  yoke  to  this  very  day.  Thus,  as  the 
Western  Empire,  which  had  been  founded  by  Augustus, 
expired  in  Augustulus,  so  in  like  manner  the  Eastern 
Empire,  which  had  been  founded  by  Constanstine  the 
Great,  was  extinguished  in  Constantine  Palseologus,  eleven 
hundred  and  twenty-three  years  after  its  first  establish- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Tiie  Church  of  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

THE  chief  pastors  in  this  age  were  Pius  III.  Julius  II. 
Leo  X.  Adrian  VI.  Clement  VII.  Paul  III.  Julius  III. 
Marcellus  II.  Paul  IV.  Pius  IV.  Pius  V.  Gregory  XIII. 
Sixtus  V.  Urban  VII.  Gregory  XIV.  Innocent  IX.  and 
Clement  VIII. 

Pius  III.  filled  the  apostohc  see  twenty-six  days  only. 
Julius  II.  succeeded  him  in  the  year  1503,  and  died  on 
the  21st  of  February,  1513.  Leo  X.  held  the  pontificate 
eight  years  and  about  nine  months.  He  was  succeeded  in 
January,  1522,  by  Adrian  VI.  who  sat  till  the  14th  of 
September,  1523.  Clement  VII.  sat  near  eleven  years  ; 
and  Paul  III.  about  nine  years.  Julius  III.  governed  the 
Church  from  the  8th  of  February,  1550,  to  the  23d  of 
March,  1555  ;  and  Marcellus  II.  only  twenty-one  days. 
Paul  IV.  sat  four  years  and  about  three  months  ;  and 
Pius  IV.  almost  six  years.  St.  Pius  V.  filled  the  pon- 
tifical chair  from  the  7th  of  January,  1566,  to  the  1st  of 
May,  1572.  Gregory  XIII.  who  happily  executed  the 
reformation  of  the  Calendar,  and  established  the  new 
style,  in  the  year  1582,  sat  thirteen  years,  wanting  one 
month  ;  Sixtus  V.  five  years  and  four  months  ;  Urban 
VII.  ten  days  ;  Gregory  XIV.  ten  months  and  nine  days  ; 
Innocent  IX.  two  months  ;  and  Clement  VIII.  ten  years 
5md  one  month,  dying  on  the  3d  of  March,  1605.  '' 


CHiyRCH  OF  ciiRisT,  sew 

New  nations  in  the  most  remote  parts  of  both  the  East- 
tern  and  Western  hemispheres  were  brought  to  the  flock 
of  Christ,  and  millions  of  converts  were  gained  over  to 
the  Church  in  this  age,  by  apostolic  preachers  and  zeal- 
ous missionaries,  who  Avere  sent  to  announce  the  Gospel, 
and  spread  over  the  whole  world  the  fire  which  Christ  him- 
self came  to  kindle  on  earth.  This  conversion  of  bar- 
barous nations,  according  to  the  Divine  Commission,  is 
the  prerogative  of  the  CathoHc  Church,  in  which  she 
never  had  any  rival. 

Two  general  councils  were  held  in  this  century,  viz. 
thejiftk  Council  of  Later  an,  which  was  the  eighteenth  ge- 
neral council  ;  and  the  ComicH  of  Trent,  which  was  the 
nineteenth  and  last  general  council.  The  council  of  La- 
teran  was  opened  in  the  year  1512,  under  Julius  II.  for 
the  purpoisc  of  rescinding  the  acts  of  the  conventicle  held 
at  Pisa  the  foregoing  year,  and  for  abolishing  the  Prag- 
matic Sanction,  or  constitution,  that  was  made  in  the  year 
1438,  at  Bourges,  under  Charles  VII.  king  of  France, 
during  the  sitting  of  the  council  of  Basil.  The  Lateran 
council,  after  having  been  twice  prorogued,  was  conclud- 
ed in  1517,  and  the  differences  which  had  arisen  from 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  were  at  length  terminated  by 
the  famous  Concordate  entered  into  between  Leo  X,  and 
Francis  I.  king  of  France.  The  patriarchs  of  Alexandria 
and  Antioch  were  present  at  this  council,  besides  fifteen 
cardinals,  twenty-two  archbishops,  fifty-five  bishops,  the 
generals  of  the  religious  orders,  and  the  orators  of  France, 
Spain,  Venice,  Poland,  Sec. 

The  council  of  Trent  was  opened  in  the  cathedral 
church  of  that  city,  on  the  13th  of  December,  1545,  and, 
after  having  been  often  interrupted  and  resumed,  was 
brought  to  a  conclusion  on  the  5th  of  December,  in  1563. 

I  There  assisted  at  it  six  cardinals,  four  legates,  three  pa- 
triarchs, thirty-two  iarchbishops,  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  bishops,  thirty-nine  deputies  of  absent  prelates,  se- 
,  ven  abbots,  seven  generals  of  religious  orders,  and  above 
one  hundred  and  fifty  theologians,  eminent  for  learning  in 
the  Scriptures,  fathers,  antiquities,  and  languages,  with 
some  of  the  ablest  canonists  of  all  Catholic  nations,  who 
attended  and  discussed  every  point  in  the  conferences. 
No  new  articles  of  faith  were  formed  or  defined  in  this 
councilj  but  every  thing  was  weighed  in  the  balance  of 


fe 


3G8  iirjsroRy  of  the 

the  sanctuary,  and  the  ancient  doctrine,  and  unanimous 
behef  of  all  foregoing  ajres,  was  maturely  examined  and 
explicitly  declared.  This  is  the  course  which  the 
Church  has  invariably  pursued  through  the  whole  period 
of  the  Christian  aera.  She  has  constantly  preserved  the 
sacred  depositum,  which  was  received  from  her  Divine 
Founder,  and  delivered  by  the  Apostles.  Her  doctrine 
of  faith  is  always  the  same,  and  constantly  i\niform. 
Her  decrees  and  decisions  in  dogmatical  points  are  unal- 
terable and  irrevocable  to  the  end  of  the  world  ;  and  the 
one  true  faith  is  so  essential  to  her  constitution,  that  with- 
out it  she  would  no  more  continue  to  be  the  Church  of 
Christ,  than  a  man  would  continue  to  be  a  man  without 
a  soul.  It  is  objected  by  Fra  Paolo  and  Courayer,  that 
several  kings  and  prelates  had  private  views,  and  employ- 
ed intrigues  in  this  council  which  could  not  be  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  cardinal  Pallivicini  has  clearly 
proved,  that  both  Fra  Paolo  and  Courayer  were  party 
writers,  and  have  retailed  many  notorious  slanders  and 
errors.  It  is  true,  indeed,  ambition,  envy,  and  the  like 
vices,  may  easily  disguise  and  insinuate  themselves  even 
into  the  sanctuary  under  false  cloaks,  but  they  cannot 
prevent  Christ  from  leading  the  pastors  of  his  Church 
into  all  truth,  by  a  special  protection  which  does  not  ne- 
cessarily imply  an.  inspiration.  His  promises  to  his 
Church  are  the  anchor  of  the  Catholic  faith,  and  the  very 
contests  and  pretended  intrigues  among  the  kings  and  pre- 
lates, prove  the  liberty  which  the  council  enjoyed,  and 
only  serve  to  convince  us,  that  neither  the  weakness  nor 
the  passions  of  men  were  able  to  defeat  or  annul  the  pro- 
mises oi'  Christ. 

The  succession  of  saints  was  kept  up  in  this  age  by  St. 
Charles  Borromaius,  archbishop  of  Milan  ;  St.  Thomas 
of  Villanova,  archbishop  of  Valentia,  styled  the  Father 
of  the  Poor ;  St.  Pius  V.  ;  St.  Ignatius  of  Loyola  ;  St. 
Francis  Xaverius,  apostle  of  the  Indies  ;  St.  Aloysius 
Gonzaga  ;  St.  Francis  Borgia  ;  St.  Lewis  Bertrand  ;  St. 
John  of  God  ;  St.  Stanislaus  Kosta  ;  St.  Andrew  Avei- 
lino  ;  St.  John  of  the  cross  ;  St.  Teresa  ;  St.  Philip  Neri ; 
St.  Peter  of  Alcantara,  author  of  a  golden  book  On  men- 
ial prayerj  which  ran  through  near  fifty  editions  before 
his  death  ;  St.  Cajetan  of  Thienna  ;  St.  Jerom  ^miliani 
of  Somascha  •,  St.  Paschal  Baylon  ;  St.  Felix  of  Caiita- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  309 

licio  ;  St.  Catharine  de  Ricci,  and  a  numberless  multitude 
of  happy  souls  and  glorious  martyrs,  who  suffered  cruel 
torments  and  death  for  the  faith  in  various  parts  of  the 
world,  and  whose  sanctity  has  been  attested  by  a  great 
number  of  illustrious  miracles. — See  Alban  Butler,  torn. 
3.  p.  76  ;  torn.  5.  p.  341  ;  tom.  12.  p.  17. 

Seminaries  were  erected  at  this  period  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  clergy,  and  public  schools  opened  in  all  places 
for  training  up  youth  in  christian  piety.     Several  religious 
orders  and  regular  congregations  Avere  likewise  institut- 
ed :  The  Theatins  in   1514  ;  the  Capuchins,  founded  by 
Matthew  Bassius  in  1525,  and  approved  by  Clement  VII. 
in   1528  ;  the  Barnabites  in  1526,  and  approved  by  Paul 
III.  in    1535  ;  the  Recollects,   or  reformed  Franciscans 
of  strict  observance,  in  1532  ;  the  Jesuits  in  1534  ;  the 
Congregation  of  St.  Peter  of  Alcantara    in  1555  ;  the 
re2:ular  Clerks  of  the  Christian  doctrine  in  1570 :  the 
^K)ratorians  in  1575;  the  Discalceate  Carmelites,  confirmed 
^By  Gregory  XIII.  in  1580,  Stc.  ;  all  these  different  orders 
^■aaking  a   beautiful  variety  in  the   Church  militant,  and 
■terming  so  many  societies  and  companies,  united  in  the 
^)rofession  of  the  same  Creed,  and  tending  towards  Chris- 
tian perfection,  by  different  exercises  of  piety  and  devo- 
•ion.     The  Maronites,  so  called  from  St.  Maro  Abbot, 
I' ho  erected  many  monasteries  in  Syria,  and  trained  up 
a  great  number  of  holy  solitaries   in  the  fifth  century, 

i^ere  inveigled  for   a  while   into  the  Greek   schism,  but 
hey  returned  to  the  communion  of  the  Catholic  Church 
nder  Gregory  XIII.  and  Clement  VIII.     1'hey  have  a 
eminary  at  Rome,  which  has  produced  several  great  men, 
^ho  have  exceedingly  promoted  true  literature.     Their 
atriarch,  styled  of  Anlioch^  is  confirmed  by  the  Pope, 
resides  in  a  monaster}^  in  Syria,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Li- 
banus,  and  has  under  him  five  metropolitans,  namely,  of 
Tyre,  Damascus,  Tripoh,  Aleppo,  and  Nicosia,  the  ca- 
T)ital  of  Cyprus. 
B  Divine  providence  was  pleased  to  raise  a  great  number 
l^pf  learned  doctors  and  ecclesiastical  writers  in  this  age. 
The  most  celebrated  were,  Cardinal  Thomas  Cajetan  ; 
l^^ardinal  Stanislaus  Hosius,  bishop  of  Wormia,  in  Poland, 
'^^nd  one  of  the  ablest  polemical  writers  that  any  age  ever 
produced  \  Cardinal  Hieronymus  Seripandus,  one  of  the 
presidents   of  the  council  of  Trent  ;  Cardinal   iEgidius 


310  HISTORY   OF    THE 

Viterbiensis  ;  John  Driedo  doctor  of  Louvain ;  Claude 
d'Espense  doctor  of  Sorbonne  ;  Nicholas  Maillard,  dean 
of  that  faculty  ;  William  Estius  ;  Joannes  Hoffmeisterus; 
Albertus  Pighius ;  Cardinal  Reginald  Pole  who  is  much 
extolled  by  Burnet  himself  for  his  erudition  and  virtue  ; 
Anthony  Augustinus,  archbishop  of  Tarracona,  and  one 
of  the  greatest  men,  says  Du  Pin,  that  Spain  ever  bred  ; 
Melchior  Canus  ;  Dominicus  Soto  ;  Petrus  Soto  ;  Bai-- 
tholomew  de  Martijnbus,  archbishop  of  Braga  ;  Cardinal 
Francis  Toletus  ;  Ludovicus  Vives  ;  Alphonsus  Rodri- 
guez Lewis  of  Granada,  whose  works  have  been  translated 
into  all  the  languages  of  Europe  ;  Lewis  Blosius  ;  Marti- 
nus  Navarrus  ;  Joannes  Cochloeus  ;  Alphonsus  Salme- 
ron ;  Cardinal  Commendon  ;  and  Cardinal  Frederic  Bor- 
romaeo,  who  wrote  several  pious  works,  and  founded  the 
famous  Ambrosian  Library  at  Milan,  which  is  said  now 
to  contain  thirty-eight  thousand  volumes,  including  four- 
teen thousand  manuscripts,  with  many  literary  curiosities, 
and  curious  monuments  of  antiquity.  The  venerable 
Johnof  Avila,  a  native  of  the  diocese  of  Toledo,  flourish- 
ed in  this  century,  and  was  the  edification  of  the  Church 
by  his  virtues,  its  support  by  his  zeal,  its  oracle  by  his 
doctrine.  He  was  a  profound  and  tmiversal  genius,  a 
prudent  and  upright  director,  a  prodigy  of  penance,  a  ce- 
lebrated preacher,  powerful  in  words  and  works,  the  glo- 
ry of  the  priesthood,  ihe  apostle  of  Andalusia,  revered  by 
all  Spain,  and  known  to  the  Christian  world.  About  this 
time  Thomas  of  Jesus  was  author  of  the  excellent  book 
entitled  the  Sufferings  of  Chtisty  which  he  composed  whilst 
he  was  confined  for  the  faith  in  a  frightful  dungeon  in 
Morocco. 

Whilst  the  church  was  extending  her  branches  over 
every  region  of  the  .globe  with  amazing  success,  the 
Turks,  the  great  enemies  of  Christianity,  made  several 
attempts  to  add  the  Western  kingdom  to  the  Ottoman 
Empire.  The  numerous  armies  of  Amuratli  and  Ma- 
homet II.  had  been  often  defeated  in  the  15th  century 
by  the  famous  George  Castriot,  whom  they  called  Scan- 
(lerbeg,  that  is,  L^rd  Alexander.  However,  this  did  not 
deter  Solyman  II.  named  ihe  Magnijicenty  from  resolving 
to  over-run  all  Christendom  with  his  arms.  He  took 
Belgrade  in  the  year  1521,  Rhode  Island  in  1522,  defeat- 
ed Lewis,  king  of  Hungary,  in  1526,  took  Buda  in  1529, 


^( 


LliLRCll    OF    CHRI^>T.  311 

and  besieged  Vienna  in  the  reign  of  Charles   V.  and, 
though  he  was  forced  to  raise  the  siege,  after  lying  a 

Konth  before  that  city,  and  after  losing  eighty  thousand 
en,  he  broke  into  Hungary  in  1532,  with  a  formidable 
'my  of  three  hundred  thousand  horse  and  foot,  and  car- 
ed devastation  with  him  all  over  that  kingdom.  He 
took  the  island  of  Corcyra  from  the  Venetians  in  1537, 
and  brought  several  thousands  of  prisoners  with  him  to 
Constantinople.  He  penetrated  again  into  Hungary  in 
1541,  1543,  and  1551.  He  invaded  Tripoli,  in  Africa, 
1560,  and  destroyed  the  Spanish  fleet,  with  eighteen 

ousand  men.  In  the  year  1566,  he  besieged  the  isle  of 
Malta  for  the  space  of  four  months,  but  was  obliged  to 
)  etreat  with  eight  thousand  men,  though  the  garrison, 
commanded  by  the  valiant  John  Valette,  the  grand  mas- 
|B^^  of  the  Knights  of  Malta,  had  only  six  thousand  to  op- 
pose him. 

Selimus  II.  the  son  of  Solyman,  elated  with  pride,  and 
flushed  with  the  many  signal  victories  he  had  gained  in 
the  East,  resolved  to  carry  his  arms  into  the  West.  Hav- 
ing already  swallowed  up  in  his  own  imagination  all  Italy, 
with  the  neighbouring  countries,  he  haughtily  demanded 
of  the  republic  of  Venice  the  surrender  of  the  isle  of 
Cyprus,  by  way  of  satisfaction  for  some  pretended  inju- 
ries, but  in  reality  for  the  sake  of  his  excellent  wine,  with 
which  he  was  extremely  besotted,  though  forbidden  by 
the  Alcoran.  In  the  year  1570  he  besieged  and  took  Ni- 
cosia, the  capital  of  Cyprus,  and  in  1571  the  opulent  city 
of  Famagusta,  where  he  put  all  the  brave  Venetian  offi- 
cers to  death,  and  caused  the  governor  to  be  flayed  alive 
in  the  market-place,  after  cutting  off  his  ears  and  nose. 
The  Venetians,  alarmed  at  those  proceedings,  immediate- 
ly fitted  out  a  fleet  of  great  gallies  and  small  vessels,  with 
an  army  of  twenty  thousand  valiant  soldiers  under  the 
command  of  Don  John  of  Austria,  son  of  Charles  V. 
They  sailed  directly  from  Corfu,  and  met  the  Turkish 
fleet,  consisting  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  vessels  in 
order  of  battle  near  the  harbour  of  Lepanto.  A  bloody 
I  and  obstinate  engagement  ensued  on  the  7th  of  October, 
and  after  a  fight  of  three  hours  with  equal  advantage,  the 
Christians  gained  a  most  complete  victory.  The  Turks 
lost  thirty  thousand  men,  and  above  two  hundred  ships 
aitd  gallies,  beside  ninety  that  were  stranded,  burnt,  or 


3l!2  HISTORY    OF    THE 

sunk,  and  tiiree  hundred  and  seventy-two  pieces  of  can- 
non. Five  thousand  prisoners  were  also  taken  from 
them,  and  fifteen  thousand  Christians,  who  were  found 
chained  on  board  their  gallies,  were  set  at  liberty  on  this 
occasion.  Thus,  the  Almighty,  who  has  set  bounds  to  the 
raging  billows  of  the  sea,  and  who  weighs  in  his  hand  the 
globe  of  the  universe  as  a  grain  of  sand,  was  pleased  to 
fix  limits  to  the  power  of  the  Barbarians,  and  to  stem  the 
tide  of  their  victories  in  the  very  height  of  their  pride 
and  prosperity. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

The  Re-building  of  the  Vatican  Church  of  St.  Peter,  ^x. 

IT  was  in  this  century,  in  the  year  1506,  that  Julius  11. 
laid  the  foundation  of  that  finished  masterpiece  of  archi- 
tecture, the  Vatican  Church  of  St.  Peter  in  Rome,  the 
old  church  t)eing  fallen  to  decay.  The  ancient  regular 
manner  of  building,  which  effected  its  purposes  with  less 
materials  and  observed  the  rules  of  justness  and  propor- 
tion in  all  parts,  followed  the  fate  of  other  polite  arts  and 
sciences  in  the  West.  The  Romans  learned  it  from  the 
Greeks,  but  it  began  to  be  neglected  and  depraved  among 
them  in  the  reign  of  Gallien,  as  appears  by  his  triumphal 
arch  in  Rome.  After  the  inundation  of  the  Barbarians, 
Gothic  architecture,  in  which  no  certain  rules,  propor- 
tions, or  measures  were  obserA'^ed,  took  place  in  the  West, 
and  was  executed  with  wonderful  success  in  the  eleventh, 
twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries,  merely  by  the  dint  of 
genius  in  masons  and  architects,  when  they  got  proper  en- 
couragement. The  wonderful  cathedral  of  Pisa,  the  so 
much  admired  Dominican  convent  in  Bologna,  the  cathe- 
dral of  Sienna,  which  is  deemed  the  most  finished  Gothic 
building  in  the  world,  the  rich  and  majestic  cathedral  of 
Milan,  were  raised  in  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth 
ages.  From  that  period  excellent  and  ingenious  artists, 
by  studyirig  the  best  models  of  ancient  architecture  still 
standing  in  Italy,  and  by  conversing  with  cardinal  Bessa- 
rion  and  other  learned  Greeks,  restored  the  true  taste  of 
regular  architecture. 


CjiURCH  OF  CHRIST.  313 

The  church  of  St.  Peter  was  begun  by  the  famous  Bra- 
mante  Lazari,  who  died  in  1514.  It  was  continued  by  the 
renowned  architect  and  prince  of  painters,  Raphael  Ur- 
bin,  then  by  Michael  Angelo,  Barrozzi,  James  de  la  Porta, 
and  by  Maderno,  till  it  was  dedicated  by  Urban  VIII.  in 
1626,  and  finished  under  Paul  V.  by  Bernini.  This  grand 
and  beautiful  church  is,  according  to  Jones,  seven  hundred 
and  twenty-two  feet  long,  five  hundred  and  twenty  broad, 
and  four  hundred  and  thirty-two  feet  high.  Under  it  there 
is  a  spacious  subterranean  church,  with  a  number  of  ele- 
gant chapels,  altars,  marble  statues  and  vaults,  wherein 
are  deposited  the  remains  of  many  holy  martyrs,  popes, 
and  other  saints.  But  the  richest  treasure  of  this  vene- 
rable place  consists  in  one  half  of  the  precious  relics  of 
St.  Peter  and  Paul,  which  He  in  a  sumptuous  vault,  that 
is  most  richly  ornamented  with  pillars  of  alabaster,  and 
enclosed  above  with  a  semicircular  balustrade  of  antique 
yellow  and  white  marble,  beyond  the  middle  of  the 
church,  near  the  patriarchal  altar,  at  which  only  the  Pope 
celebrates  mass,  unless  he  commissions  another  to  om- 
eiate  there.  This  sacred  vault  is  called,  The  Confession 
'of  Si.  Peter,  or  the  Threshold  of  the  Apostles  {Jbimina 
Apostolorum)  to  which  devout  persons  have  flocked  in  pil- 
grimages from  the  primitive  ages.  The  papal  altar  stands 
under  the  grand  dome,  and  is  supported  by  four  huge  pil- 
lars of  gilt  bronze,  which  are  beautifully  turned  and  orna- 
mented with  emblematical  figures  and  festoons,  and  erect- 
ed on  four  lofty  square  pedestals  of  variegated  marble, 
that  are  inlaid  with  large  cross  keys  of  gilt  bronze,  repre- 
senting the  keys  of  St.  Peter.  On  the  top  of  the  four  pil- 
lars of  this  magnificent  altar  are  placed  four  beautiful 
figures  of  angels,  seventeen  feet  long,  and  cast  of  gilt 
bronze,  each  of  them  holding  a  garland  of  gilt  bronze  in 
one  hand,  and  with  the  other  supporting  a  square  gilt 
bronze  canopy  of  admirable  beauty  and  most  curious  work- 
manship, with  a  bronze  cross  terminating  the  whole ;  at 
the  distance  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  palms  from 
the  floor.  The  most  amazing  part  of  this  vast  edifice  is 
the  grand  dome,  which  is  supported  by  four  stupendous 
pillars,  embellished  on  every  side  with  white  marble  ba- 
lustrades, elegant  pews,  shrines,  medallions,  pictures, 
busts,  and  statues  of  Egyptian  marble,  and  a  great  variety 
of  emblematical  figures  in  mosaic,  &c.    The  dome  is  four 

Dd 


S14  HISTORY    OF    THE 

hundred  and  nlnoiy-four  palms  high,  and  one  liundred  and 
ninety-two  in  diameter.  The  interior  of  it  is  finished  in 
the  highest  taste,  and  encircled  with  a  palisadoed  gallery, 
and  terminates  with  a  beautiful  lantern  and  spire  of  the 
neatest  construction.  The  exterior  circumference  of  this 
great  dome  is  computed  to  measure  six  hundred  and 
twenty  feet,  and  it  appears  so  conspicuous,  that  it  is  easily 
discerned  by  travellers  at  the  distance  of  twenty  miles 
from  the  city  of  Rome. 

It  would  be  an  endless  task  to  enumerate  all  the  other 
ornaments  and  decorations  of  this  church,  which  are  so 
many  and  so  great,  that  after  viewing  them  with  attention 
for  the  course  of  a  year,  new  beauties  will  be  discovered 
in  the  end.  The  proportions  are  so  just,  that  nothing  ap- 
pears there  long,  broad,  or  elevated,  and  the  enormous 
size  is  only  perceived,  when  every  part  is  examined  sepa- 
rately. Entering  into  one  of  the  ten  chapels,  which  are 
in  the  aisles,  with  ten  smaller  domes,  or  oval  cupolas  cor- 
responding to  them,  you  find  yourself  as  in  a  cathedral. 
At  the  upper  end  of  the  church,  which  is  built  in  form  of 
a  Greek  cross,  the  grand  monument  of  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter  presents  itself  with  an  unparalleled  majesty.  The 
ornaments  of  it  are  said  to  have  cost  one  hundred  and 
seven  thousand,  five  hundred  and  fifty-one  Roman  crowns. 
The  four  feet  of  it  are  supported  by  four  gilt  bronze 
statues,  each  seventeen  ^lalms  high,  of  four  doctors  of  the 
Church,  two  of  the  Latin  church,  St.  Augustine  and  St. 
Ambrose,  and  two  of  the  Greek  church,  St.  John  Chry- 
sostom  and  St.  Athanasius.  These  statues  are  elevated 
on  four  lofty  pedestals  of  variegated  marble,  to  such  a 
height  that  the  feet  of  the  chair  are  upon  a  level  with 
their  heads.  The  figures  of  two  angels  of  gilt  bronze  are 
placed  on  each  side  of  the  chair  holding  the  keys  in  their 
hands,  and  above  them  the  Holy  Ghost  is  represented 
in  the  form  of  a  dove,  with  a  surrounding  multitude  of 
cherubims  and  seraphims,  and  the  figure  of  grand  Glot^y 
all  in  gilt  bronze,  casting  brilliant  rays  to  a  very  consider- 
able distance,  and  at  times  redoubling  their  brilliancy  by 
means  of  the  rays  of  light  which  the  meridian  sun  conveys 
through  a  yellow  stained  glass  window  in  the  rear.  The 
choice  paintings  by  the  most  celebrated  masters,  the 
sculpture,  stucco,  and  mosaic  work,  the  great  number  of 
beautiful  altars,  and  rich  ornaments  thereto  belonging,  the 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  315 

nineteen  supeib  marble  mausoleums  of  popes,  king?, 
queens,  and  princes,  which  are  erected  in  different  parts 
of  this  church,  the  pleasing  variety  of  fine  marble  statues 
and  emblematical  figures,  representing  the  different  Vir- 
tues, the  elegance  of  the  new  sacristy,  which  is  built  in 
the  form  of  an  octagon,  and  of  the  pilasters  in  the  corri- 
dore  leading  to  it,  the  grandeur  of  the  ceiling  curiously 
decorated  and  gilt,  nay,  the  very  floor  paved  with  polished 
marble,  and  partly  inlaid  with  mosaic,  partly  with  white 
marble  circles,  which  exactly  correspond  to  the  dimensions 
of  the  difl'erent  cupolas,  is^c.  justly  o.xcite  admiration  in 
every  spectator  of  taste  and  judgment.  The  two  holy 
water  fountains,  which  are  erected  on  each  side  of  the 
princi[)al  nave,  at  a  proper  distance  from  the  middle  gate 
and  entrance,  are  amazingly  beautiful  and  grand.  They 
are  made  of  yellow  antique  marble,  and  supported  by 
two  white  marble  statues  of  angels,  which  on  close  inspec- 
tion are  found  to  be  six  feet  high,  though  they  appear  ex- 
actly proportioned,  and  suitable  to  the  purpose  for  which 
they  are  designed.  The  drapery  that  embellishes  this  no- 
ble piece  of  sculpture,  is  composed  of  lapis  lazuli. 

There  are  five  grand  gates  or  entrances  into  the  body 
of  the  church,  supported  by  lofty  pillars  of  Oriental  mar- 
ble, in  the  Doric  order,  on  each  side.  One  of  them  is  al- 
ways closed,  except  in  time  of  a  jubilee.  The  foldini^  doors 
of  the  middle  gate  are  entirely  of  bronze,  and  of  a  prodi- 
gious height  and  size.  On  them  is  seen  a  lively  representa- 
tion of  the  crucifixion  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  decollation  of 
St.  Paul.  Over  them  Christ  is  represented  intrusting  his 
flock  to  the  care  of  St.  Peter,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  grand  porch,  the  ship  of  Peter  appears  to  be  tossed  to 
and  fro  by  the  fury  of  the  raging  billows  of  the  sea,  but 
still  is  kept  above  the  water  and  preserved  from  sinking. 
The  porch  itself  is  so  spacious  and  magnificent,  that  it 
might  be  looked  on  as  a  noble  church  any  where  else.  At 
both  ends  of  it  there  are  two  spacious  galleries,  separated 
by  iron  pahsadoes  from  the  remainder  of  the  porch,  and 
in  one  of  them  is  erected  an  equestrian  statue  of  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  and  in  the  other  a  statue  of  Charle- 
magne. Exclusive  of  these  two  apartments,  the  porch  is 
two  hundred  and  sixteen  feet  long,  and  forty  feet  wide. 
Inchiding  them,  the  whole  length  is  reckoned  six  hundred 
and  forty-eight  palms.  The  ceiling  is  computed  to  be  one 


316  HISTORY  OF  THE 

hundred  and  forty-three  palms  high  from  the  floor.  It  is 
decorated  with  gilt  stucco,  as  the  floor  is  paved  with  po- 
lished marble  of  various  colours,  and  the  wall  occasionally 
hang  with  pieces  of  fine  tapestry,  which  represent  the  mi- 
racles and  historical  passages  of  the  New  Testament. 
There  is  a  majestic  passage  from  each  end  of  the  porch 
to  the  colonnade,  and  in  the  front,  directly  opposite  to  the 
five  gates  of  the  church,  there  are  five  other  neat  folding 
gates  of  iron  palisadoes,  with  open  circular  tops,  and  a 
commodious  landing  place  at  the  bottom,  contiguous  to  a 
very  extensive  staircase  of  twenty-one  marble  steps,  which 
being  divided  into  three  flights,  and  projecting  in  an  oval 
figure  in  the  middle,  aftbrd  a  very  easy  ascent  to,  and  de- 
scent from  the  church.  Over  the  porch  there  is  a  noble 
apartment  of  equal  grandeur  and  magnificence,  called  the 
Lodgioy  and  beautified  in  the  front,  from  one  side  to  the 
other,  with  balconies,  balustrades,  pilasters,  and  open 
windows  with  circular  tops,  &c.  Over  this  Lodgio  is 
raised  a  fine  attic  story,  that  terminates  with  a  grand  ba- 
lustrade, crowned  with  twelve  lofty  statues  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  which  are  ranged  at  a  proper  distance,  with  a 
beautiful  statue  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  centre.  The  fa- 
cade of  this  so  much  admired  pile  of  building  is  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-one  palms  high,  and  five  hundred  and  fifty- 
two  wide.  The  various  pillars  which  adorn  it  are  of  a 
prodigious  size,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty- six  palms  in 
height.  The  spacious  court,  or  open  area  that  interposes 
between  it  and  the  beautiful  bridge  and  castle  of  St.  An- 
gelo,  being  1230  palms  deep,  contributes  much  to  its  ma- 
jestic appearance,  and  places  it  in  a  most  agreeable  point 
of  view.  It  is  neatly  paved,  and  intersected  with  lines  of 
white  marble  in  the  form  of  a  star.  At  the  upper  end,  on 
the  right  and  left  side,  near  the  steps  leading  to  the  portal, 
stand  two  handsome  pedestals,  on  one  of  which  is  erected 
a  statue  of  St,  Peter  holding  the  keys,  and  on  the  other  a 
statue  of  St.  Paul  holding  a  flaming  sword.  Toward  the 
lower  end,  at  a  regular  distance,  on  the  right  and  left,  two 
grand  fountains  with  double  basins,  of  a  circular  figure, 
one  above  the  other,  and  elevated  about  twenty  feet  from 
the  surface  of  the  area,  are  incessantly  playing  and  emit- 
ting their  waters,  through  a  great  number  of  united  tubes, 
and  to  an  amazing  height,  until  they  descend  again  in  the 
form 'of  a  bow.     A  most  beautiful  obelisk  of  Egyptian 


CHURCH  OP  CHRIST,  317 

granite^  eighty  feet  high,  is  erected  in  the  centre  of  the 
court,  on  an  elegant  square  pedestal  thirty  feet  high,  sur- 
rounded with  pillars,  and  fronted  with  white  marble,  with 
the  following  inscription  :  Christus  Vincit.  Christus  re^nat. 
C/iristus  imperat.  Vicit  Leo  de  hibu  Jiida.  Kcce  crucem 
Domini.  Fugite  partes  adversoe^  &c.  The  obelisk  rests 
immedipiely  upon  the  backs  of  four  rampant  lions  of 
bronze,  and  terminates  above  like  a  pyramid,  with  a  large 
cross  of  bronze.  This  grand  obehsk  is  said  to  have  been 
originally  dedicated  to  the  Pagan  gods,  by  the  emperor 
Trajan,  but  w^as  afterwards  consecrated  to  Christ,  by 
Sixtus  V. 

On  each  side  of  the  court  there  is  a  most  majestic  oval 
colonnade  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  columns,  with 
eighty  pilasters,  in  the  Doric  order,  arranged  in  four  rows 
near  the  two  vaulted  porticos  of  twenty-four  arches  which 
lead  immediately  into  both  ends  of  the^grand  porch,  and 
which  form  a  square  between  the  obelisk  and  the  front  of 
the  church.  The  porticos  and  the  colonnade  are  covered 
in  and  crowned  with  an  entablatm-e  of  curious  workman- 
ship, and  with  an  elegant  balustrade,  \\hereon  are  erected 
one  hundred  and  thirty-six  elegant  statues,  twenty-four 
palms  high. 

The  Church  of  St.  Peter  is  but  the  second  patriarchal 
church  of  Rome,  that  of  St.  John  Later  an  being  the  first, 
as  an  inscription  on  its  walls  imports.  It  is  also  amaz- 
ingly grand  and  beautiful.  It  contains  five  naves,  and  is 
supported  by  three  hundred  and  thirty-five  marble  pillars. 
The  sides  of  the  grand  nave  are  ornamented  with  twelve 
great  marble  statues  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  arranged 
at  a  regular  distance,  and  exhibiting  each  one  of  the 
twelve  articles  of  the  creed.  The  patriarchal  altar  here 
is  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  the  sculpture  executed  in  a 
most  masterly  manner.  The  chapel  of  Corsini,  near  the 
grand  portal,  is  justly  deemed  one  of  the  richest  and  the 
most  beautiful  in  the  world.  The  principal  front  of  this 
church  is  crowned  with  an  elegant  balustrade,  whereon 
are  erected  eleven  lofty  statues,  that  represent  Christ  with 
the  Four  Evangelists,  and  the  six  greater  prophets.  Near 
this  church  stand  the  ruins  of  the  famous  amphitheatre, 
or  the  CoUsee,  which  contained  with  ease  eighty  thousand, 
and  if  crowded,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  specta- 
tors.— Vespasian,  after  his  triumph  over  Judaea^  employed 
Dd2 


SI 8  HISTORY   OF   THE 

twelve  thousand  captive  Jews  in  raising  this  stupendous 
oval  fabric  for  entertaining  the  people  with  shows  and 
pubhc  exhibitions.  It  was  completed  by  Titus,  and  the 
outside  of  the  walls  was  ornamented  with  a  great  number 
of  beautiful  columns,  which  the  family  of  the  Barberini 
removed  for  the  purpose  of  decorating  their  own  palace. 
This  gave  occasion  to  that  common  saying:  Quod  non  se- 
cerunt  JBarbari,  fecere  Barberini.  The  inner  side  round 
the  area  contained  seats,  made  of  vast  polished  stones, 
one  above  another,  that  the  spectators  might  have  a  per- 
fect view  of  the  whole  pit  without  any  hinderance.  The 
Cavea  under  the  walls  contained  dens  for  the  wild  beasts, 
and  dark  dungeons  for  the  condemned  prisoners,  and  the 
porta  libitinod,  was  the  gate,  through  which  the  bodies  of 
the  slain  were  dragged  out.  The  Vomitoria  were  gates 
so  contrived  in  the  walls,  that  persons  went  in  and  out 
without  being  crowded.  The  Arena,  or  oval  pit,  was 
strewed  with  sand  to  suck  up  the  blood,  and  surrounded 
with  iron  rails  on  a  balustrade  about  a  yard  from  the 
lower  seats,  for  a  fence  that  the  beasts  might  not  be  able 
to  hurt  the  spectators.  This  place,  which  was  bedewed 
with  the  blood  of  great  numbers  of  holy  martyrs,  is  now 
converted  to  a  religious  purpose,  and  called  the  Via  Cru- 
cis^  or  the  station  of  the  holy  cross,  fourteen  stationary 
chapels,  which  the  faithful  resort  to  with  edifying  piety 
and  devotion,  being  erected  at  a  regular  distance  from 
each  other,  all  round  the  interior  circumference. 

The  other  patriarchal  Churches,  and  principal  basilicas 
in  the  city  are  the  church  of  the  Holy  Cross  in  Jerusalem, 
wherein  part  of  the  real  cross  of  our  Saviour  is  preserved 
to  this  day,  and  the  church  of  St.  Mary  Major,  both  of 
which  are  situated  within  the  distance  of  about  half  a 
mile  from  St.  John  Lateran's.  The  church  of  St.  Paul 
stands  on  the  Ostian  Road,  about  five  miles  from  Rome  ; 
the  church  of  St.  Sebastian  on  the  Appian  Road,  and  of 
St.  Laurence  extra  Muros,  on  the  Tiburtian  Road.  These 
seven  churches  form  the  seven  stations  of  Rome. 

The  church  of  St.  Paul  is  supported  by  one  hundred  and 
forty  large  and  beautiful  pillars,  chiefly  of  white  marble, 
taken  out  of  Antoninus'  baths,  and  from  the  tomb  of 
Adrian.  Some  of  them  are  of  porphyry,  some  of  granite. 
The  church  is  very  extensive,  and  contains  five  naves. 
The  patriarchal  altar  is  erected  in  the  central  nave  over 


ciitiRCH  OP  Christ.  319 

subterraneous  chapel,  wherein  half  the  relics  of  St.  Pe- 
r  and  Paul  is   kept,  and   under  a  beautiful  pavilion, 
that  terminates  above  in  the  form  of  a  pyramid.     This 
altar  is  supported  by  four  pillars  of  agate  and  porphyry. 
The   twenty  four  elders,  mentioned  in  the  Apocalyspe, 
with  Christ  at  their  head,  are  beautifully  represented  in 
mosaic  on  the  ceiling,  with  a  wonderful  variety  of  ancient 
historical  paintings,  &c.     The  two  facades  of  the  church 
of  St.  Marij  Major ^  in  the  Ionic  and   Corinthian  orders, 
with  its  elegant  portals,  octagon  domes,  spires,  belfry, 
balustrades,  statues,  galleries,  pillars,  pilasters,  basso  re- 
^Kevos,  palisadoes,  and  the  adjacent  obelisks  and  foun- 
Hains,  make  a  most  majestic  appearance,  and  inspire  the 
Bkeholder  with  sentiments  of  reverence  and  respect  for  the 
Bouse  of  God.     The  interior  of  this  church  is  most  richly 
PKmbellished  with  gilt  stucco  and  mosaic,  with  porphyry 
pillars  and  pilasters,  with  bronze  statues  and  choice  paint- 
ings.    The   roof    is   supported   by  thirty-eight  columns 
»f  white  polished  marble,  and  four  of  granite.     The  pa- 
[•iarchal  altar,  in  the  grand  nave,  is  formed  of  porphyry, 
nd  the  elegant  square  canopy  over  it  is  sustained  by  four 
Kreat  figures  of  angels,  standing  on  porphyry  pillars.  Under 
lis  altar  there  is  a  subterraneous  chapel,  adorned  with  a 
umber  of  white  marble  statues,  and  with  a  lively  repre- 
sntation  of  Christ  in  the  stable  and  manger  of  Bethlehem. 
Nothing  can  be  more  magnificent  than  the  Borghesian, 
l^ponfalon  and  Sixtine  Chapels,  which  are  in  this  church, 
"'he  walls  are  incrusted  with  the  richest  Egyptian  marble. 
The  altars  are  finished  in  the  highest  taste.     The  pillars 
are  covered  with  Oriental  jasper,  the  pedestals  are  en- 
riched with  agate,  the  bases  and  capitals  are  formed  of  gilt 
■ronze,  and  the  table  and  front  of  the  altar  of  lapis  lazuli. 
^  The  city  of  Rome  abounds  with  a  great  number  of 
other  stately  churches,  but  the  church  of  the  Jesuits   is 

nne  of  the  most  magnificent  piles  of  building  in  the  world, 
ext  to  the  Vatican,and  is  not  less  admired  for  the  elegance 
of  the  architecture  than  for  its  riches,  consisting  in  cost- 
ly beautiful  ornaments  of  gold,  silver,  jewels,  exquisite 
paintings,  statues,  and  carving,  and  a  great  profusion  of 
fine  marble.  Among  the  many  chapels  which  it  contains, 
that  of  St.  Ignatius  is  the  admiration  of  travellers.  His 
sacred  remains  lie  there  in  a  silver  shrine  under  the  altar, 
exposed  to  view.     The  other  glittering  rich  ornaments  of 


S20  HISTORY   OF    l^HE 

this  place  seem  almost  to  lose  their  histre,  when  the  sta- 
tue of  the  saint  is  uncovered.  It  is  somewhat  bigger  than 
the  life,  because  raised  high.  Its  bright  shining  gold,  sil- 
ver, and  sparkling  diamonds,  especially  in  the  crown  of 
glory  over  the  head,  dazzle  the  eye.  It  is  surprising  to 
hear  so  many  in  those  days  inveigh  against  the  splendour 
and  magnificence  of  the  ornaments  of  the  House  of  God, 
as  savouring  too  much  of  worldly  pomp,  and  nourishing 
pride  and  vanity.  On  pretence  of  refining  religion,  and 
rendering  it  more  spiritual,  they  cry  out  in  the  language 
o{  those  who  were  filled  with  indignation  on  seeing  tlie 
pious  penitent  of  the  Gospel  pouring  out  a  precious  oint- 
ment on  the  head  of  our  Lord:  *'To  what  purpose  is  this 
"  waste  and  profusion  ?  These  valuable  things  might  be 
**sold,  and  the  price  given  to  the  poor."  But  those  who 
are  not  ashamed  to  exclaim  thus  against  the  rich  decora- 
tions that  become  the  House  of  Ged,  and  render  it  a  fi- 
gure of  heavenly  Jerusalem,  show  that  they  are  divested 
of  all  sense  of  piety  or  respect  for  God.  They  are  ge- 
nerally people  full  of  themselves  and  of  their  own  wit 
and  judgment,  who  are  displeased  at  seeing  that  employ- 
ed for  the  honour  of  the  Almighty,  which  they  would 
wish  to  be  their  own  property.  Can  any  thing  be  con-- 
ceived  more  splendid  or  more  magnificent,  than  the  sa- 
cred vestments  used  by  the  priests  in  the  Old  Law  ?  Or 
than  the  golden  candlesticks,  the  lamps  and  goblets,  the 
rich  images  of  Cherubims,  the  cedar  altar,  and  tables  co- 
vered with  the  purest  gold,  the  censers  and  vessels  of  mas- 
sive gold,  &.C.  which  God  himself  commanded  to  be  used 
in  the  Temple  of  Solom.on.^  Does  not  this  example  of  God 
himself  authorize  the  embellishment  of  places  of  divine 
worship  in  the  New  Law,  whereof  the  Old  Law  was  only 
a  type  and  shadow  ?  Is  it  not  alone  sufficient  to  silence  the 
enemies  of  religion?  The  rich  decorations  of  Christian 
churches  are  so  far  from  nourishing  pride  and  vanity 
that  they  serve  to  inspire  the  faithful  with  reverential 
awe  and  respect ;  and  for  this  reason  those  who  have 
been  most  remarkable  for  their  profound  humility  and 
solid  virtue,  were  always  the  most  zealous  for  the  splen- 
dour and  magnificence  of  every  thing  relative  to  the  ser- 
vice of  God,  as  we  learn  from  the  history  of  ^11  fore- 
going ages. 


> 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  321 


{JHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  Rise  of  Ltdheranism  in  Germamjj  Calvinism  in  France^ 
and  Socinianism  in  Tuscany,  Poland,  Sfc. 

No  age,  since  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  aera, 
has  ever  been  more  productive  of  new  rehgions  than  the 
sixteenth  century.  Martin  Luther  broke  off,  in  the  year 
1517,  from  the  communion  of  the  estabhshed  Church  of 
all  Christendom,  and  separated  himself  from  the  great 
body  of  the  faithful  diffused  all  over  the  world.  He  tells 
us  himself  that  he  stood  alone  in  the  beginning,  pnmo  so- 
lus eraiUy  as  if  the  Divine  Goodness  had  abandoned  his 
Church,  and  left  the  world  in  darkness,  until  his  appear- 
ance ;  but  he  no  sooner  sounded  the  trumpet  of  sedition, 
than  all  Germany  was  set  in  a  flame.  He  qualified  his 
apostacy  with  the  name  of  Reformation,  and  set  out  with 
exclaiming  against  errors  and  abuses,  this  being  the  usual 
cry  of  rebels  against  their  lawful  sovereigns.  He  falsely 
prophesied  that  the  reign  of  popes  should  have  an  end  in 
two  years'  time,  and  pretended  that  the  Church  had  fallen 
into  ruin  and  desolation  ;  but  it  appeared  strange,  that  in 
such  a  number  of  holy  prelates,  learned  doctors  and  emi- 
nent saints,  who  had  lived  and  died  in  her  commimion 
for  fifteen  hundred  years,  no  one  ever  perceived  the  im- 
posture, no  council  ever  gave  information  hereof,  no 
hither,  no  historian  opened  his  mouth  or  employed  his 
pen  to  decry  or  record  such  pretended  errors,  till  Luther 
made  the  discovery.  He  began  immediately  to  show  his 
contempt  of  the  Augustines,  the  Jeroms,  the  Cyprians, 
and  other  ancient  Fathers,  revered  for  so  many  ages^ 
though  these  great  lights  of  antiquity  were  better  qua- 
lified to  know  the  doctrine  of  the  primitive  Church  than  he 
was,  at  the  distance  of  fourteen  hundred  years  ;  but  he 
vented  his  spleen  against  them,  because  he  was  sensible 
that  their  authority  and  his  new  religion  could  not  stand 
together.  He  poured  out  a  torrent  of  gross,  scurrilous, 
and  abusive  invectives,  against  the  most  respectable  cha- 
racters ;  and  though  at  first  he  professed  an  aversion  to 
violence,  he  soon  altered  his  maxims,  and  declared  that 
blood  was  requisite  for  the  establishment  of  his  gospel, 
and  that  the  true  children  of  God  would  do  well  if  they 


322  HISTORY    OF    THE 

washed  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  popes,  cardii>als,  and 
bishops.  Strange  language  in  the  mouth  of  ar  man  who 
set  up  for  an  apostle  !  Could  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ 
authorize  such  proceedings?  In  particular  he  bent  his  vi- 
rulence and  rancour  against  the  Church  of  Rome,  because 
he  knew  that  it  was  her  special  province  to  oppose  all 
innovations  in  faith.  Henry  VIIl.  wrote  a  book  against 
him,  which  he  sent  to  Leo  X.  with  the  following  distich, 
and  for  which  he  was  styled  Defender  of  the  Faith: 

"  Anglorum  Rex  IlenriaiSy  Leo  decline y  mlUit 
'*  Hoc  opus  J  etjidei  testem  cl  amicitioa.^^ 

Great  Leo  this  from  Ilem^fs  hand  receive. 

As  much  as  faiih  can  say  orjricndship  give.  't 

But  Luther  had  the  address  to  engage  several  other 
powerful  princes  to  take  part  with  him,  being  allured  by 
the  hopes  of  enjoying  the  church  lands,  and  sharing  in 
the  rich  spoils  and  revenues  of  the  abbeys  and  monasteries. 
Frederick,  elector  of  Saxony,  openly  declared  himself 
his  protector.  He  drew  over  Philip,  landgrave  of  Hessia, 
by  granting  him,  through  a  most  shameful  compliance,  a 
license  to  have  two  wives  at  once,  contrary  to  the  express 
prohibition  of  Christ.  Nay,  Luther  himself,  notwith- 
standing the  most  sacred  engagements  of  his  ordination 
and  religious  vows,  ventured  upon  taking  a  wife,  and  mar- 
ried Catharine  Boren,  a  professed  nun,  to  the  great  scan- 
dal of  his  friend,  Melancthon,  (L.  4.  Edist.  24.)  and  in 
open  defiance  of  the  established  laws  of  the  Church, 
which  never  allowed  Priests  or  Religious  to  marry  after 
receiving  Holy  Orders,  and  making  a  voluntary  promise 
to  God-  to  live  continently,  the  breach  of  a  solemn  vow 
of  chastity  being  a  formal  violation  of  the  Divine  Law, 
expressly  condemned,  Deut.  23.  and  1  Tim.  5.  12.  where 
the  Apostle,  speaking  of  widows  who  presume  to  marry 
after  having  thus  consecrated  themselves  to  God,  says, 
that  they  ijicur  damnaiionj  because  they  have  cast  off  their 
first  faith)  that  is,  their  solemn  engagement  made  to  God. 
Hence  St.  Augustine,  1.  de  bono  Vid.  c.  11.  affirms,  that 
the  breach  of  such  a  vow  of  chastity,  is  worse  than  adid- 
tery.  Luther's  revolt  was  followed  with  a  visible  decay 
of  Christian  piety,  and  an  increase  of  vice  and  immorality 
among  all  degrees  of  people  in  Germany.  Erasmus  him- 
self, though  no  zealous  advocate  for  the   Church,  could/ 


CHIRCH  OF    CimiST.  323 

not  help  observing  the  general  decay  of  piety  that  ensued, 
and  the  degeneracy  of  morals  that  was  brought  on  by  the 
change  of  religion,  and  by  enfranchising  men  from  the 
powerful  curbs  and  penitential  exercises  of  fasting,  ab- 
stinence, confession,  and  other  religious  duties.  Luther 
also  made  the  same  remark,  and  historians  of  those  days 
tell  us,  that  the  Lutheran  magistrates  of  the  illustrious 
city  of  Nuremberg  were  so  sensible  hereof,  that  they  so- 
lemnly petitioned  the  emperor  Charles  V.  to  re-establish 
auricular  confession  among  them  by  an  imperial  law,  as  a 
check  upon  the  prevailing  libertinism,  alleging,  that  they 
lij.d  learned  by  experience,  that  since  it  had  been  laid 
aside  by  them,  their  commonwealth  was  overrun  with  sins 
against  justice  and  other  virtues,  heretofore  unknown  in 
their  country,  and  that  restitution  for  injustices  commit- 
ted was  scarce  any  longer  to  be  heard  of.  The  petition 
only  moved  the  court  to  laughter,  as  if  a  human  law  could 
compel  men  to  the  confession  of  the  secrets  of  their  con- 
:  sciences,  and  as  if  it  was  to  be  expected  that  any  atten- 
tion would  be  paid  to  the  ordinance  of  man  by  a  people 
who  disregarded  the  institution  of  God,  as  the  Emperor 
replied.  Such  was  the  commencement  of  that  fatal  de- 
.  fection  from  the  ancient  faith,  which  afterwards  tore  away 
-many  fair  edifices  from  the  rock  on  which  they  had  stood 
for  several  centuries.  In  the  year  1529,  the  Lutherans 
in  Germany  protested  against  the  decree  of  the  Emperor, 
enacted  at  the  diet  of  Spire,  and  having  formed  an  army 
of  72,000  men,  they  desolated  the  provinces  of  Suabia, 
Franconia,  and  Alsatia,  pillaging  and  burning  churches, 
destroying  monasteries  and  castles,  and  massacring  priests 
and  religious. 

In  the  year  1526,  John  Calvin,  having  relinquished  the 
nncient  faith,  and  deserted  the  Church  in  which  he  had 
been  baptized,  ushered  into   France  a  new  system  of  re- 
^  lii>;ion,  and  made  Geneva  the  centre  of  his  sect.     He  was 
^pi  enemy  to  all  subordination,  rejected  all  authority,  and 
^nrew  oil'  all  obedience  to  the  ruling  powers.     Yet  he  re- 
quired so  implicit  a  submission,  and  so  blind  an  obedience 
to  every  thing  that  he  himself  was  pleased  to  define,  that 
he  caused  Michael  Servetus,  an  Unitarian,  to  be  condemn- 
ed and  burnt  alive  at  Geneva,  in  1553,  by  a  decree  of 
the  senate,  for  havino*  advanced  some  erroneous  doctrine 
about  the  mystery  of  the  most  Holy  Trinity.     It  is  im~ 


324  HISTORY    OF    THE 

possible  to  read  the  history  of  Calvinism,  without  being 
shocked  at  the  disorders  and  horrid  violences  committed  by 
its  abettors  and  followers  in  Dauphine,  Gascony,  Langue- 
doc,  and  other  provinces.  During  three  reigns  France  was 
convulsed  and  torn  w^ith  continual  factions,  civil  wars,  and 
bloody  engagements.  It  is  computed,  that  in  the  course 
of  these  wars  twenty  thousand  churches  were  destroyed, 
nine  hundred  towns  and  villages  burnt.  Two  hundred 
and  fifty  priests,  and  one  hundred  and  twelve  religious 
monks,  were  massacred  in  the  province  of  Dauphine 
alone.  This  made  Erasmus  say,  that  the  disciples  of  Lu- 
ther and  Calvin  were  equally  as  good  at  fightiyig  as  at  die- 
ptding.  Erasmus  died  in  1536,  when  the  following  epi- 
taph was  inscribed  on  his  tomb: 

"  Hicjacet  Erasmus ,  qui  quondam  bonus  crat  Mus, 
'^  Rodere  qui  solituSj  roditur  a  Vermibus.''^ 

Here  lies  a  snarling  biter  in  his  day. 
Bid  now  J  in  tunij  to  biting  worms  a  prey. 

About  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  there  arose, 
at  Sienna,  in  Tuscany,  another  new  sect,  called  Socinian- 
isMy  from  Loelius  and  Faustus  Socinus,  the  authors  of  it. 
Socinianism  is  a  compound  of  Arianism,  Macedonianism, 
Photinianism,  and  of  the  old  condemned  errors  of  Paul  of 
Samosata,  and  of  the  Sabellians  and  Ebionites,  for  which 
reason  its  followers  are  called  the  neio  Ebionites,  Antitrini- 
iarianSj  Unitarians^  and  Socinians.  Socinianism  is  but  one 
remove  from  Deism,  or  bare  natural  religion,  and  its  ten- 
dency is  to  lay  aside  the  belief  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
Trinity  and  Incarnation,  and  to  overturn  tlie  whole  sys- 
tem of  Christianity.  Luther  began  the  work,  Calvin  car- 
ried it  on,  but  Socinus  endeavoured  to  undermine  the  very 
foundation,  according  to  the  following  epitaph  that  was 
made  for  him  : 

*'  Tota  quidem  Babylon  destruxit  tecta  L/idherus, 
*'  Muros  Cahinus,  sed  fimdamenta  Socinus.''^ 

Three  grand  refoi^ners^ffirW  with  ardenl  zeal, 
Proud  Babylon  at  various  times  assail : 
Luther,  of  pious  haste  to  give  a  proof, 
UntiVd  the  building,  and  stripphl  off  the  roof ; 
Calvin,  with  greater  rage,  pidVd  down  the  ivall  ; 
Socinus  raz^dfound-alionst  earth  and  all. 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  325 

The  cliiijf  and  favourite  principle  of  the  Socinlans  is, 
that  whatever  is  above  reason,  or  is  not  reconcileable  to 
'it,  is  against  it,  and  that  no  mystery  can  be  admitted  in 
reHgion  :  a  principle  that  not  only  flatters  the  pride  of  the 
human  heart  exceedingly,  but  likewise  opens  a  door  to 
endless  divisions,  and  often  di-ives  the  abettors  of  it  into 
the  most  glaring  inconsistencies  and  monstrous  absurdities 
against  reason  itself.  If  nothing  is  to  be  allowed  in  faith 
or  religion,  but  what  our  reason  fully  comprehends,  will  it 
not  follow  that  articles  of  faith  must  vary  in  proportion  to 
men's  capacities  }  Moreover,  to  believe  no  mystery,  or 
to  admit  nothing  above  reason,  is  the  most  extravagant 
inconsistency  in  man,  who  feels  the  weakness  and  short- 
sightedness of  his  reason  in  every  thing,  whether  in  or 
about  himself,  and  to  whom  the  whole  universe  is  in  every 
part  an  enigma.  It  is  much  more  inconsistent  in  a  Chris- 
tian, to  whom  the  Scriptures  present  a  religion  that  is 
founded  in  mystery  and  divine  revelation,  and  that  by  its 
brightness  and  evidence  dispels  the  mists  and  lays  open 
the  artful  subterfuges  of  Socinianism. 

The  gross  errors  and  absurdities  of  Pagan  antiquity 
plainly  show  the  weakness  of  human  reason,  unassisted 
by  divine  revelation,  and  prove  the  absolute  necessity  of 
a  revealed  religion  to  direct  us  even  in  the  paths  of  moral 
virtue,  and  to  guide  us  in  the  search  of  many  necessary 
truths  ;  for  as  the  human  mind  is  of  itself  nothing  but 
darkness,  we  stand  in  need  of  the  light  of  divine  revela- 
tion as  a  sure  guide  to  point  out  to  us  the  straight  way, 
and  to  conduct  us  with  safety  through  the  dangerous  pil- 
grimage of  this  moral  life.  If  we  forsake  it,  we  lose  and 
bewilder  ourselves,  how  much  soever  enlightened  we  may 
suppose  ourselves  to  be.  How  many  acute  philosophers, 
great  geniuses,  and  strong  reasoners,  have  gone  astray, 
and  run  into  all  kinds  of  excesses,  by  relying  too  much 
on  the  strength  of  their  own  reason,  and  pursuing  their 
own  speculations,  without  a  sense  of  religion  ?  How  many 
have  lost  sight  of  common  sense,  and  overset  and  unhinged 
their  understanding,  by  too  intense  an  application  to  things 
beyond  their  sphere  ?  How  many  have  mistaken  the  wild 
fancies  of  their  brain  for  right  reason  ?  Cicero  justly  re- 
marks, that  nothing  can  be  invented  ever  so  absurd  or 
monstrous,  v/hich  has  not  been  said  by  some  of  the  ancient 
philosophers,  who,  like  the  Scrir-ians  of  those  davs,  boast' 


326  HISTORY    OF   THE 

cd  mightily  of  making  reason  their  only  guide.  St.  Au- 
gustine also  tells  us,  that  the  Manicheans,  by  relying  too 
much  on  the  strength  of  their  own  reason,  whilst  they  de- 
rided the  simplicity  of  the  true  believers,  became  at  length 
so  absurd  as  to  teach,  that  when  a  iBg-tree  was  plucked 
and  eaten,  both  it  and  its  mother  tree  wept  with  milky 
tears,  and  that  particles  of  Deity,  imprisoned  in  the  fruit, 
were  restored  to  liberty. 

The  root  of  such  abuses  is  pride  and  a  secret  vanity, 
self-sufficiency  or  complacency,  that  men  easily  entertain 
in  the  opinion  of  their  own  knowledge  or  penetration,  and 
that  makes  them  overrate  their  imaginary  perfections  and 
superior  abilities.  Nay,  pride  alone  has  sometimes  made 
men  forget  that  they  were  men,  and  has  even  raised 
them  to  the  extravagant  presumption  of  claiming  divine 
honours,  as  we  read  of  Alexander,  the  celebrated  Mace- 
donian conqueror,  and  of  several  emperors  of  ancient 
Babylon  and  Rome.  Sound  philosophy  demonstrates,  that 
as  there  is  nothing  more  certain  than  that  there  is  a  God, 
so  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  there  must  be  a  reli- 
gion, and  a  revealed  religion,  which  has  God  for  its  au- 
thor ;  for  there  is  no  such  thing,  and  no  such  thing  can  be, 
as  a  natural  religion.  Natural  reli  jrion  would  be  that  where 
reason  alone  would  dictate  to  man  the  homage  and  wor- 
ship that  the  Deity  demands  of  him.  But  his  natural  lights 
do  not  reach  so  far,  as  the  Deists  have  heen  forced  to  ac- 
knowledge. Man  cannot  attain  by  his  reason  only  to  the 
free  designs  which  God  has  over  him  ;  he  cannot  discover 
what  his  destination  is,  or  how  he  is  tor  appease  God  when 
he  has  offended  him.  He  must  be  taught  these  duties  by 
a  revealed  religion.  It  is  it  that  makes  known  to  him  the 
state  in  which  he  was  born,  the  cause  of  the  great  igno- 
rance of  his  mind,  and  of  the  deep-rooted  corruption  of 
his  heart.  It  is  it  that  points  out  the  source  of  his  spi- 
ritual maladies,  and  applies  to  them  effectual  remedies. 
It  is  the  privilege  of  religion  only  to  make  mankind  good 
and  happy.  It  is  it  that  gives  both  light  and  strength.  It 
is  it  that  illuminates  the  understanding,  rectifies  the  will, 
regulates  the  heart,  stems  the  tide  of  men's  passions,  fur- 
nishes most  powerful  motives  of  virtue,  and  sovereign  pre- 
servatives against  vice.  {See  p.  43,  <S|'C.)  Philosophy  or 
human  reason  is  insufficient,  and  too  weak  to  maintain  or- 
der, either  in  public  or  domestic  life.  If  the  heart  be  cor- 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  327 

i 

rupted,  it  will  scarce  scruple  any  thing  that  will  serve  a 
man's  ambition  or  interest.  Refinement  on  reason  will  in 
this  case  contribute  only  to  refine  upon  the  means  of 
gi'atifying  his  darling  passions,  whereas,  on  the  contrary, 
those  who  act  under  the  influence  of  religion,  are  steady 
in  the  disinterested  pursuit  of  every  virtue,  and  in  the  dis- 
charge of  every  duty  they  owe  their  king  and  country, 
their  families  and  themselves.  In  short,  religion  alone  is 
the  sacred  band  of  justice  and  civil  society  in  the  present 
life.  The  safety  and  happiness  of  all  society  is  founded 
upon  it.  He  who,  with  Hobbes,  so  far  degrades  human 
reason  as  to  reduce  virtue  to  an  ideal  beauty,  and  an  empty 
name,  or  who  laughs  religion  and  the  law  of  God  out  of 
doors,  is  of  all  others  the  most  dangerous  enemy  to  man- 
kind, capable  of  every  mischief.  It  is  safer  to  live  among 
lions  and  tigers,  than  among  men  of  this  description  ;  for 
unless  religion  bind  a  man  in  his  conscience,  the  general 
laws  of  nations,  and  those  of  particular  states,  are  too 
weak  a  restraint  upon  him,  and  lose  their  force.  His 
heart  being  open  to  every  crime,  he  will  become  so  far 
the  slave  of  his  passions  as  to  be  ready  to  commit  every 
advantageous  villany  to  which  he  is  prompted,  whenever 
he  can  do  it  with  secrecy  and  impunity. 

The  followers  of  Socinus,  particularly  in  Poland  and 
Transylvania,  disagreed  so  much  among  themselves,  that 
they  were  at  length  divided  into  about  fifty  different  sects, 
but  were  all  known  by  the  general  name  of  Unitarians. 
The  refinement  of  false  philosophy,  destructive  at  once 
both  of  religion  and  morality,  difiused  itself  with  the  ra- 
pidity of  an  inundation.  Freethinking  grew  apace.  Some 
uneasy  under  any  restraint,  and  extending  what  they 
called  universal  charity  to  Turks,  Jews,  and  Pagans,  de- 
clared themselves  indifferent  to  every  form  of  doctrine 
and  worship,  and  were  styled  Laiitadinarians,  because 
they  allowed  a  latitude  that  was  calculated  to  indulge  hu- 
man pride,  and  to  gratify  the  inclinations  of  the  heart. 
Others,  contented  with  the  simple  belief  of  a  God,  re- 
nounced all  divine  revelation,  and  were  denominated 
Deists  ;  whilst  others  sunk  into  mere  materialism,  and  be- 
lieved no  future  state  at  all.  Brandt,  the  Belgic  historian, 
relates,  that  Hubert  Dovehouse,  a  parish  priest  at  Utrecht, 
in  those  days  of  innovation,  to  conform  to  his  flock,  in 
which  some  were  Catholics,  sorrje   Calvinists,  professed 


328  HISTORY  OF  THf; 

himself  of  both  relij^ions  at  once,  and  first  said  Mass  to 
the  Catholics — then  they  going  out,  and  the  Calvinists 
coming  into  the  Church,  he  immediately  began  to  read  to 
them  their  new  liturgy.  The  principles  of  such  men  v/ould 
allow  them  to  sacrifice  both  to  the  true  God  and  to  Baal, 
and  would  induce  them  to  coniiueuil  tl.«  fbil.s«  religion  of 
Redwald,  kix'g  of  the  East  Saxons,  who  had  in  the  same 
church  or  temple,  one  altar  erected  to  Christ,  for  the 
celebi*ation  of  the  divine  mysteries,  and  another  lesser,  on 
which  he  oflered  victims  to  the  idols  of  his  ancestors. 

The  disciples  of  Luther  and  Calvin  were  also  divided 
and   subdivided   into    different  sects,  following  difl'erent 
heads.  Very  soon  the  same  principle  which  had  separated 
them  from  the  society  of  the  faithful,  formed  new  divisions 
in  their  own  bosom.     Doctors  trained  up  in  their  school, 
turned  against  them  the  same  arms  which  they  themselves 
had  made  use  of  against  the  ancient  Church,  and  their 
own  children  had  no  more  respect  for  them  than  they  had 
shown  to  their  mother.     They  scarce  agreed  in  any  other 
thing  but  their  endeavours  to  destroy  the  faith,  in  which 
their  predecessors,  for  so  many  ages,  had  wrought  their 
salvation.     They  withdrew  themselves  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Church  militant,  by  laying  aside  its  authority  ; 
they  separated  from  the  Church  suffering,  by  rejecting 
prayers  for  the  souls  in  purgatory  ;  and  from  the  Church 
triumphant,  by  refusing  to  invoke  the  intercession  of  the 
saints  and  by  destroying  their  shrines  and  sacred  relics. 
Thus  it  was  that  they  revived  the  old  condemned  errors 
for  which  Aerius,  a  priest  of  Sebastia — Jovinian,  a  monk 
of  Milan,  called  by  St.  Jerom  the  Christian  Epicure — and 
Vigilantius,    a   priest   of   Barcelona,    had   been   ranked 
amono-st  the  heretics  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries. 
They  exploded  fasting  and  other  religious  duties,  as  en- 
croachments and  restraints  on  Christian  liberty.     They 
preached  down  celibacy  and  a  state  of  virginity,  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  doctrine  and  advice  of  St.  Paul,  1  Cor. 
7.  of  living,  as  he  did,  in  a  state  of  perpetual  continency. 
They  banished  the  painful  restrictions  of  penance  and 
mortification,  though  perfectly  conformable  to  the  maxims 
and  spirit  of  the  Gospel.     They  opened  a  spacious  lawn 
and  smooth  path  to  Heaven,  strewed  with  roses,  instead 
of  the  narrow,  thorny  road  of  the  cross.     In  short,  they 
Tevelled   all  the   fences  which   veneraljle    antiquity  }\><i, 


ttiXjtLCU    OF    CHRIST.  3^9 

^i*ccted,  reduced  faith  to  a  mere  skeleton,  and  dogmatized 
that  it  alone  was  sufficient  for  salvation. 

To  such  a  degree  prevailed  the  spirit  of  dogmatizing 
and  forming  new  creeds  in  those  days,  that  the  cities  and 
villages,  camps,  houses,  and  pulpits,  were  filled  with  a 
numerous  tribe  of  new  gospellers.  Each  of  them  pre- 
tended that  he  had  as  good  a  right  as  Luther  and  Calvin, 
to  interpret  the  Bible  according  to  his  own  fancy ;  and 
thus,  like  the  Arians  and  Pelagians,  they  made  a  handle 
of  the  best  of  books  to  lead  the  poor  deluded  people 
astray,  and  to  pass  their  own  notions  upon  them  for  divine 
truths.  "  Aristarchus  formerly  could  scarce  find  seven 
"  wise  men  in  Greece,"  as  Dr.  Walton,  a  Protestant  wri- 
ter, says  in  his  preface  to  Polyglott,  "but  then  scarce 
"  were  to  be  found  so  many  idiots  ;  for  all  were  doctors, 
'^  all  were  divinely  learned  ;  and  there  was  not  so  much 
'*  as  the  meanest  fanatic,  who  did  not  give  his  own  dream 
"  for  the  word  of  God."  Like  the  ancient  sectaries,  they 
all  boasted  they  had  Scripture  on  their  side,  and  imagined 
that  they  understood  it  better  than  all  the  holy  Fathers, 
Doctors,  and  Pastors  of  the  preceding  ages.  But  as  they 
had  no  certain  standard  to  go  by,  and  were  not  limited  by 
any  settled  principle,  but  depended  upon  the  arbitrary  de- 
termination of  their  own  private  judgment,  it  is  no  won- 
der that  they  split  into  an  amazing  number  of  jarring 
opinions  and  contradictory  systems,  which  were  not  to  be 
found  in  the  genuine  sources  of  truth.  Staphylus  reckons 
seven  opposite  expositions  of  that  one  text.  This  is  my 
Bocly^  and  says  that  the  Lutheran  religion  was,  within  a 
i^&w  years  after  its  birth,  divided  into  fifty  sects. — Apol. 
fol.  138.  The  number  of  confessions  of  faith  that  were 
drawn  up  by  them,  demonstrates  the  instability  of  their 
doctrine,  as  Bossuet,  the  bishop  of  Meaux,  proves,  in  his 
History  of  Valuations. 

Sleiden  relates,  b.  10.  that  John  of  Leyden,  by  reading 
the  Bible,  and  preaching  his  whims,  made  himself  king 
of  Munster,  and  introduced  polyg-amy.  A  woman  of  that 
city,  by  reading  the  book  of  Judith,  heated  her  imagina- 
tion to  that  degree,  that  she  attempted  to  kill  the  bishop 
of  Munster,  but  perished  herself.  Brandt,  in  his  History 
of  the  Low  Countries,  tells  us,  that  David  of  Delft  said 
to  his  companion,  '*  Come,  dost  thou  not  see  how  men 
"  raise  themselves  by  turning  new  preachers  .''  How  they 
Ee2 


330  HISTORY    OF   THE 

"  grow  rich  and  powerful  at  an  easy  rate  ?  We  have 
"  read  the  Bible:  let  us  set  up."  He  did  so,  and  made  a 
great  figure  at  Basil,  till  he  died  there.  Peter  Martyr, 
Ochinus,  Osiander,  Zuinglius,  Carlostadius,  CEcolampa- 
dius,  &c.  thought  themselves  authorized  to  commence  re- 
finers of  religion,  and  preached  up  a  hitherto  unheard-of 
evangelical  liberty.  Philip  Melancthon  framed  the  Con- 
fession of  Augsburg  in  the  year  1530,  and  left  the  following 
epitaph  to  be  inscribed  on  his  tomb: 

"  Iste  brevis  tumulus  misern  tenet  ossa  Philippiy 
*^  Qui  qualis  fuerit,  nescio,  talis  erit.^^ 

T\is  slender  pile  within  its  space  contains, 
Poor  Philip^s  mortal  corse  and  sad  remains. 
His  future  state  I  neither  know  nor  see  ; 
BtU  as  he  was,  such  ever  he  shall  be. 

Nicholas  Stork  and  Thomas  Munster  gave  birth  to  the 
Anabaptists,  who  in  a  short  time  split  into  at  least  thirty- 
two  different  sects.  John  Knox,  who  died  in  1572,  was 
author  of  the  Puritans.  John  Arminius,  of  Amsterdam, 
became  the  leader  of  a  party,  called  the  Arminians,  who 
revived  the  errors  of  the  Pelagians,  and  were  opposed  by 
another  party,  called  GomaHsts,  from  Gomarus,  a  pro- 
fessor of  theology  at  Leyden.  Some  called  themselves 
Conformists,  others  Non-conformists;  some  were  styled 
Hemonstrants,  others,  Contra  remonstrants;  some  indepen- 
dents, others  Moravians;  some  Episcopalians,  others  Pres- 
byterians; some  were  named  Broivnists,  others  Ilutch- 
insonians;  some  Sacramentarians,  others  Ubiquitarians, 
Some  in  short  obtained  the  appellation  of  Huguenots, 
particularly  in  several  provinces  of  France,  where  Theo- 
dorus  Beza  dogmatized  after  the  death  of  Calvin. 

In  the  interim,  the  Church,  Hkeunto  a  sorrowful  mother, 
sat  bewailing  the  loss  of  so  many  children,  whom  she  had 
baptized  and  reared  in  her  bosom.  She  beheld  with  re- 
gret and  concern  a  very  considerable  portion  of  her  vine- 
yard lopped  off  in  some  respectable  countries  of  Europe, 
which  for  upwards  of  nine  hundred  years  had  been  con- 
spicuous in  the  Christian  world  for  the  orthodoxy  of  their 
belief,  and  for  having  sent  a  multitude  of  saints  to  Heaven.  : 
Never  did  she  meet  with  a  greater  trial ;  never  was  there 
a  more  dreadful  storm  raised  against  her,  since  the  days  . 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  331 

of  Arianism,  than  at  this  remarkable  period.  The  raging 
waves  of  error  and  libertinism  swelled  so  high,  and  with 
such  violence,  as  to  seem  to  threaten  the  world  with  a 
general  deluge  ;  but  he  who  has  set  certain  bounds  to  the 
sea,  and  who  commands  the  winds  and  the  waves,  did  not 
abandon  the  ship  of  Peter,  but  stood  constantly  at  the 
helm,  to  preserve  it  from  the  danger  of  sinking  or  of  being 
wrecked,  and  to  pilot  it  safe  into  port.  For  his  own  wise 
reasons  he  suffered  it  to  be  agitated  for  a  while  by  the  most 
violent  tempests,  but  in  the  end  he  made  it  rise  triumph- 
antly, like  Noah's  Ark,  above  the  raging  billows,  that  it 
might  carry  salvation  to  the  extremities  of  the  earth. 
HUherto  shall  thou  comcy  and  shall  go  no  furlher,  and  here 
thou  shah  break  thy  swelling  waves.  Job  c.  38.  v.  11. 
The  billows  may  rage  and  foam,  but  the  rock  stands  firm, 
whilst  they  dash  and  spend  themselves  against  it  to  no 
purpose. 

In  effect,  never  was  the  protection  of  God  more  visible 
in  supporting  that  building  which  Christ  had  founded 
upon  an  immoveable  bulwark.  It  was  so  far  from  being 
overthrown  or  destroyed  by  the  various  attacks  levelled 
at  it  in  those  days,  that  the  breaches  and  losses  it  sus- 
tained were  most  amply  repaired.  Such  is  the  general 
plan  and  oeconomy  that  Divine  Providence  seems  to  follow 
in  the  government  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  When 
through  his  unsearchable  judgments  he  permits  any  part 
of  it  to  be  wrested  from  him  by  infidelity,  or  when  in 
his  anger  he  withdraws  the  gift  of  faith  from  one  nation, 
he  usually  gives  it  to  another,  and  retrieves  the  loss  by 
making  new  conquests.  He  enlarges  his  spiritual  do- 
minions elsewhere,  and  repairs  the  breaches  by  the  con- 
version and  accession  of  much  larger  regions  to  the  pale 
of  his  Church.  If  the  Church  therefore  had  the  affliction 
to  behold  some  countries  cut  of!"  from  her  communion  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  she  likewise  had  the  consolation  to 
See  other  nations  substituted  in  their  place  ;  so  that  the 
lopping  off  of  some  of  her  branches  served  only  to  make 
her,  like  unto  a  great  tree,  shoot  forth  fresh  branches, 
and  produce  more  excellent  fruit.  The  discovery  of  the 
ew  world  and  fourth  part  of  the  earth,  by  Christo- 
pher Columbus,  a  native  of  Leghorn,  in  the  year  1492, 
and  by  Americus  Vespusius,  a  Florentine,  in  the  year 
1497,  opened  a  door  to  carry  the  Gospel  into  those  vast 


332  HISTORY    OF    TH£ 

regions,  and  immense  tracts  of  land,  where  innumerable 
multitudes  embraced  the  Catholic  communion  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  It  was  in  this  century  that  St.  Francis 
Xaverius,  the  apostle  of  the  Indies,  carried  the  light  of 
the  Gospel  to  the  coasts  of  Malabar  and  Coromandel,  to 
Travancer  and  the  fisheries  in  the  East  Indies,  to  the  Mo- 
lucca islands,  and  the  islands  Del  Moro,  and  to  the  king- 
dom of  Japan,  where  he  planted  the  faith  of  Christ  and 
converted  many  hundred  thousands  of  souls.  See  his  Life 
englished  by  Dryden.  The  Church  of  Japan,  about  the 
year  1582,  counted  no  less  than  six  hundred  thousand 
Christians,  and  stood  for  a  long  time  the  shock  of  the 
most  violent  persecutions,  in  which  innumerable  martyrs 
suffered  with  a  piety  and  constancy,  not  unworthy  the 
primitive  ages.  In  the  year  1590,  no  fewer  than  20,000 
were  put  to  death  for  the  faith.  It  was  at  this  period  also 
that  numbers  of  pious  missionaries,  burning  with  zeal  for 
the  glory  of  God,  and  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  announc- 
ed the  faith  with  prodigious  success  in  the  great  empire 
of  China,  in  Brazil,  Terra  Firma,  New  Granada,  New 
Andalusia,  Popayan,  Paraguay,  and  in  the  Philippine 
islands,  where  they  civilized  millions  of  barbarians  and 
gained  over  innumerable  souls  to  the  Lord. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

The  Church  of  the  Seventeenth  Centunj. 

THE  Apostolic  succession  of  chief  pastors  in  the  chair 
of  St.  Peter  was  continued  in  this  age  by  Leo  XI.  who 
sat  but  twenty  days.  Paul  V.  succeeded  him  on  the  16th 
of  May,  1605,  and  died  on  the  28th  of  January,  1621, 
in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  pontificate.  Gregory  XV. 
was  elected  on  the  9th  of  February,  1621,  and  died  on 
the  8th  of  July,  1623.  Urban  VIII.  was  chosen  on  the 
6th  of  August,  the  same  year,  and  after  sitting  twenty- 
one  years,  died  on  the  29th  of  July,  in  1644.  Innocent 
X.  was  raised  to  the  pontificate  on  the  15th  of  September, 
the  same  year,  and  died  on  the  7th  of  January,  1655. 
Alexander  VII.  sat  from  the  7th  of  April,  the  same  year, 
till  the  22d  of  May,  1667.     Clement  IX.  was  chosen  on 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  333 

the  20th  of  June,  same  year,  and  died  on  the  9th  of  De- 
cember, 1669.  Clement  X.  being  elected  after  him,  died 
on  the  22d  of  July,  in  1676.  Innocent  XI.  sat  from  the 
21st  of  September,  same  year,  till  the  12th  of  August, 
1689.  Alexander  VIII.  sat  from  the  6th  of  October, 
same  year,  till  the  1st  of  February,  1691,  and  Innocent 
XII.  from  the  12th  of  July,  same  year,  till  the  27th  of 
September,  1700. 

The  succession  of  saints  was  kept  up  in  this  age  by  St. 
Francis  of  Sales,  bishop  of  Geneva,  St.  Vincent  of  Paul, 
founder  of  the  Lazarites  or  fathers  of  the  mission,  St. 
Camillus  of  Lellis,  founder  of  therehgious  order  for  serv- 
ing the  sick  and  assisting  the  faithful  at  their  death,  St. 
Fidelis  of  Sigmaringen,  martyr,  St.  Joseph  of  Leonissa, 
St.  Francis  Solano,  Apostolic  preacher  in  Peili,  St. 
Alphonsus  Thuribius  Archbishop  of  Lima,  St.  Joseph 
Calasanctius,  founder  of  the  regular  clergy  of  the  Scholoz 
piodj  or  pious  schools,  St.  John  Francis  Regis,  St.  Jane 
Frances  de  Chantal,  St.  Mary  Madgdalen  of  Pazzis,  St. 
Rose  of  Lima,  the  capital  of  Peru,  with  many  others, 
who  died  in  the  sweet  odour  of  sanctity.  See  Dr.  A. 
Butler,  tom.  1.6.  7,  and  8.  Even  in  the  most  degenerate 
ages,  when  the  true  maxims  of  the  Gospel  seem  almost 
obliterated  among  the  generality  of  those  who  profess  it, 
God  fails  not,  for  the  glory  of  his  holy  name,  to  raise  to 
himself  faithful  ministers  and  vessels  of  election,  whom  he 
replenishes  with  his  gifts  and  graces,  that  they  may  be 
qualified  to  revive  the  spirit  of  religion  in  others,  and  to 
conduct  them  both  by  word  and  example  in  the  paths  of 
heroic  virtue.  One  of  these  instruments  of  the  divine 
mercy  was  St.  Francis  of  Sales.  To  read  the  lives  of 
the  saints,  and  to  consider  their  edifying  actions  in  order 
to  imbibe  their  spirit  and  quicken  his  own  soul  in  the 
practice  of  piety,  was  an  exercise  in  which  from  his 
youthful  days  he  found  singular  comfort  and  dehght,  and 
a  great  help  to  devotion.  Like  the  industrious  bee,  which 
sucks  honey  from  every  flower,  he  endeavoured  to  learn 
from  the  life  of  every  saint  some  new  practice  of  virtue, 
and  to  treasure  up  in  his  mind  some  new  maxim  of  an 
interior  life.  By  reading  the  golden  book  composed  by 
Laurence  Scupoli,  entitled  the  Spiritual  Combat,  he  con- 
ceived the  most  ardent  desire  of  Christian  perfection.  He 
carried  it  fifteen  years  in  his  pocket,  read  something  of  it 


334  inSTORY    OF    THE 

every  day,  always  with  fre&h  profit,  as  he  assures  us,  and 
strongly  recommends  it  to  others  in  several  of  his  letters. 
This  book  ran  through  near  fifty  editions,  before  the 
death  of  the  author,  which  happened  in  the  year  1610. 
Herein  are  laid  down  the  best  remedies  against  all  vices, 
and  the  most  perfect  maxims  of  an  interior  life,  in  a  clear 
concise  style,  which  in  the  original  Italian  breathes  the 
most  affecting  sincere  simplicity,  humility,  and  piety.  A 
spiritual  life  is  here  proved  to  be  founded  in  perfect  self- 
denial,  and  the  most  sincere  sentiments  of  humihty  and 
distrust  in  ourselves  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  in  an 
entire  confidence  in  God,  and  profound  sense  of  his  good- 
ness, love,  and  mercy.  St.  Francis  was  nat\u'ally  of  a 
hasty  and  passionate  temper,  wherefore,  from  his  youth 
he  made  meekness  his  favourite  virtue,  and  studied  and 
practised  that  important  lesson  of  his  Divine  Redeemer, 
Lteamfrom  me  to  he  meek  and  humble  of  heart,  to  such  per- 
fection as  to  convert  his  predominant  passion  into  his  cha- 
racteristical  virtue.  When  he  was  promoted  to  holy 
orders,  and  consecrated  bishop  of  Geneva,  he  studied  as 
much  at  the  foot  of  the  crucifix  as  in  books,  being  per- 
suaded that  the  essential  quality  of  an  ecclesiastic  and 
preacher  of  the  Gospel  is  to  be  a  man  of  prayer.  His 
sermons  were  accompanied  with  incredible  success.  He 
is  said  to  have  converted  no  less  than  seventy-two  thou- 
sand Calvinists,  which  wonderful  conversion?  they  ascrib- 
ed principally  to  his  meekness  and  humility,  and  the 
unction  with  which  he  spoke  from  the  abundance  of  his 
own  heart,  and  affected  the  hearts  of  his  hearers. 

The  writings  of  St  Francis  breathe  that  meekness  and 
divine  love  with  which  his  heart  was  filled,  and  are  an  in- 
estimable treasure  of  moving  instructions,  suitable  to  all 
sorts  of  persons  and  circumstances.  His  incomparable 
book,  called  The  Introduction  to  a  Devout  Life,  has  been 
translated  into  all  the  languages  of  Europe.  Queen 
Mary  of  Medicis  sent  it  richly  bound  and  adorned  with 
jewels  to  James  I.  of  England,  who  was  so  wonderfully 
taken  with  it,  that  he  expressed  a  great  desire  to  see  the 
author.  This  being  told  to  Francis,  he  cried  out,  <'  Ahy 
^^who  will  give  me  the  wings  of  a  dove  ?  and  I  will  fly  to  the 
*'  king,  into  that  great  island,  formerly  the  country  of  saints 
"  but  now  overwhelmed  with  the  darkness  of  error.  If 
"  the  Duke  will  permit  me,  I  will  arise  and  go  to  that  grea 


ciiuucii  or  ciiiiisT.  335 

*'  Ninive  :  I  will  speak  to  the  king,  and  will  announce  to 
"  him,  with  the  hazard  of  my  life,  the  word  of  the  Lord." 
Ill  effect  he  solicited  the  duke  of  Savoy's  consent,  but 
could  never  obtain  it.  Villars,  the  archbishop  of  Vienna, 
wrote  to  St.  Francis,  that  this  book  charmed,  inflamed,  and 
put  him  in  raptures,  as  often  as  he  opened  any  part  of  it. 
The  like  applause  and  commendations  were  received  from 
all  parts.  Yet  a  certain  preacher  had  the  rashness  and 
presumption  to  declaim  bitterly  against  this  book  in  a 
public  sermon.  He  even  cut  it  in  pieces,  and  burnt  it  in 
the  very  pulpit,  as  if  it  had  allowed  of  scurrilous  jests,  and 
approved  of  gambling,  balls,  and  comedies,  which  was 
very  far  from  the  Saint's  doctrine.  Nature,  indeed,  stands 
in  need  of  relaxation  for  the  exercise  of  the  body,  and 
unbending  of  the  mind,  but  to  make  a  round  of  trifling 
amusements,  slothful  games,  and  idle  visits  the  business 
of  life,  is,  indeed,  to  degrade  the  dignity  of  a  rational 
being.  Games  at  cards,  the  modish  diversion  of  this  age, 
first  invented  at  the  French  court  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  consisting  of  military  allusions  to  the  combats 
of  chivalry,  and  to  the  persons  and  transactions  of  that 
age,  fall  under  the  censure  of  games  of  hazard,  when 
chance  is  chiefly  predominant  in  them.  They  can  only  be 
tolerated  or  allowed  when  dexterity  and  skill  prevail,  and 
when  the  play  is  not  deep,  and  there  is  no  danger  either 
of  losing  much  of  our  precious  time  at  them,  or  of  con- 
tracting an  attachment  and  passion  for  gaming.  St. 
Peter  Damian  severely  rebuked  the  bishop  of  Florence 
for  playing  a  game  of  chess,  and  the  prelate  acknow- 
ledging the  amusement  faulty  in  a  man  of  his  character, 
who  should  be  better  employed  in  labouring  for  the  sal- 
vation of  many  souls  redeemed  by  the  blood  of  Christ, 
and  perishing  for  want  of  zealous  workmen  in  the  vine- 
yard, recited  the  Psalter  three  times  by  way  of  penance. 
St.  Camilhis  of  Lellis  had  in  his  youth  followed  a  mili- 
tary life,  and  contracted  so  violent  a  passion  for  cards  and 
gaming,  that  he  was  at  length  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
driving  an  ass  for  a  subsistence.  He  was  insensible  of  the 
evils  attending  gaming,  till  distress  compelled  him  to  open 
his  eyes  and  bewail  his  folly.  He  was  then  convinced 
that  all  playing  even  at  lawful  games  for  exorbitant 
sums,  and  absolutely  all  games  of  hazard  for  considerable 
sums,  are  forbidden  by  the  law  of  nature.     The  imperial 


336  HISTORY    OF    THE 

laws,  the  civil  laws  of  all  Christian  or  civilized  ivations, 
and  the  canons  of  the  Church  likewise  forbid  them. 
Aristotle  himself,  1.  4.  Ethic,  c.  1.  places  gamesters  in  the 
same  class  with  highway-men  and  plunderers.  No  con- 
tract is  justifiable  in  which  neither  reason  nor  proportion 
is  observed.  Nor  can  it  be  consistent  with  the  natural 
law  of  justice,  for  a  man  to  stake  any  sum  on  blind  chance, 
or  to  expose  without  a  reasonable  equivalent  or  necessity, 
so  much  of  his  own  or  his  antagonist's  money,  that  the 
loss  would  notably  distress  himself  or  any  other  person. 
Many  other  evils  are  inseparable  from  a  spirit  of  gaming. 
It  springs  from  avarice,  rejoices  in  the  loss  of  others,  and 
is  the  source  and  immediate  occasion  of  several  other 
vices.  A  passion  for  it  unsettles,  enervates  and  debases 
the  mind,  unhinges  the  whole  frame  of  the  soul,  and  ge- 
nerates a  strong^  aversion  to  business.  One  of  the  best 
remedies  lor  it,  is  to  give  whatever  is  won  to  the  poor. 
These  considerations  completed  the  conversion  of  Camil- 
lus.  Having  deplored  his  past  indolent,  unthinking  life, 
and  being  perfectly  dead  to  self-love,  he  embraced  a  pe- 
nitential course,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  charitable 
congregation  for  serving  the  sick  in  prisons  and  hospitals, 
even  those  infected  with  the  plague.  His  attention  to 
every  circumstance  relating  to  the  care  of  dying  persons, 
made  him  soon  discover,  that  many  were  buried  alive,  of 
which  Cicatello  relates  several  examples,  1.  2.  c.  1.  p.  446. 
particularly  of  one  buried  in  a  vault,  who  was  found  walk- 
ing about  in  it,  when  the  next  corpse  was  brought  to  be 
there  interred.  Hence  the  saint  ordered  his  religious  to 
continue  the  pi'ayers  for  souls  yet  in  their  agony  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  after  they  seem  to  have  drawn  their 
last  breath,  and  not  to  sutler  their  faces  to  be  covered  so 
soon  as  is  usual,  by  which  means  those  that  are  not  dead  are 
stitled.  This  precaution  is  most  necessary  in  cases  of 
drowning,  apoplexies,  and  such  accidents  and  distempers, 
which  arise  from  mere  obstructions,  or  some  sudden  re- 
volutions of  humours.  Boerhaave,  Bruhier,  and  some  other 
eminent  physicians  and  surgeons  in  France  and  Germany, 
have  demonstrated  by  many  undoubted  examples  of  per- 
sons who  have  recovered  long  after  they  had  apppnred  to 
have  been  dead,  that  where  the  person  is  not  dead,  an 
entire  cessation  of  breathing,  and  of  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  may  happen  for  some  time,  bv  a  total  obstruction 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  337 

in  the  organical  movements  of  the  springs  and  fluids  of  the 
whole  body,  which  obstructions  may  sometimes  be  after- 
wards removed  and  the  vital  functions  restored.  Hence 
the  soul  is  not  to  be  presumed  to  leave  the  body  in  the  act 
of  dying,  but  at  the  moment  in  which  some  organ  or  part 
of  the  body  absolutely  essential  to  life,  is  irreparably  de- 
cayed or  destroyed.  And  for  this  reason,  these  authors 
insist,  that  no  corpse  should  be  allowed  to  be  buried,  or 
its  face  close  covered,  before  some  evident  symptom  or 
certain  proof  of  putrefaction  commenced,  appears  sen- 
sible, and  for  this  they  assign  as  usually  one  of  the  first 
marks,  if  the  lower  jaw  being  stirred,  does  not  restore 
itself,  the  spring  of  the  muscles  being  lost  by  putrefaction. 
The  Romans  usually  kept  the  bodies  of  the  dead  eight 
days,  and  before  they  burnt  or  interred  them,  practised 
a  ceremony  of  often  calling  upon  them  by  their  names, 
which,  though  trivial  in  itself,  was  of  importance  to  ascer- 
tain publicly  the  death  of  the  person. 

This  ao-e  was  remarkable  for  the  conversion  of  several. 
great  personages.  The  son  of  the  emperor  of  the  Turks 
was  converted  and  baptized  in  the  year  1621.  The  eld- 
est son  of  the  emperor  of  China,  with  his  mother,  was 
converted  in  1646.  The  king  of  Tunis  was  baptized  the 
same  year.  The  king  of  Monomotapa  in  Africa  was  bap- 
tized in  1652.  The  eldest  son  of  the  emperor  of  Morocco 
was  baptized  in  1667.  Christina  queen  of  Sweden  em- 
braced the  Catholic  religion  in  1656.  Wolfangus  Wil- 
liam, duke  of  Neoborough,  was  converted  in  1614.  Chris- 
tianus  Augustus,  the  elector  palatine,  and  his  sisters,  were 
converted  in  \655.  The  kingdom  of  Christ  was  likewise 
considerably  extended  in  Tonquin,  in  the  Marian  islands, 
on  the  coasts  of  Zanquebar,  in  Canada  and  New  Mexico, 
in  Chili,  and  other  parts  of  South  America. 

No  general  council  was  held,  though  several  synods 
and  congregations  were  assembled  for  the  regulation  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  the  reformation  of  morals,  and 
for  settling  the  school  disputes  between  the  Donjiinicans 
and  .Jesuits  on  the  grace  of  God,  or  de  Auxiliis,  The  er- 
rors that  arose  were  suppressed  by  the  authority  of  the 
Apostolic  see,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  great  body  of 
bishops  throughout  the  Church,  acquiescing  in  its  decisions, 
which  carries  with  it  the  same  authority  as  a  general  coun- 
cil. In  the  year  1567,  Pius  V.  had  condemned  seventy- 
Ff 


338  HISTORY    OF    THE 

six  propositions  under  the  name  of  Michael  Baius,  doctor 
and  professor  of  divinity  at  Louvain,  which  contained  a 
new  doctrine  concerning  the  grace  conferred  on  man  in 
the  two  states  before  and  after  Adam's  fall,  and  some 
other  speculative  points.    Baius  himself  solemnly  revoked 
and  sincerely  condemned  his  errors,  in  1580,  at  Louvain, 
in  the  presence  of  Francis  Toletus,  legate  to  Gregory 
XIII.  on  which  occasion  it  was  said  of  him :  Baio  nihil 
dodius,  Baio  nihil  hmnilius.     Nothing  more  lemvied  than 
JBaius,   nothing   more  humble  than  Baius.     He  said  with 
the  truly  humble,  and  truly  great  Augustine,  Errare  pos- 
suMj  hcereiicus  non  ero.     Cornelius  Jansenius,  bishop  of 
Ipres,  and  John  Verger,  director  of  the  nuns  of  Port- 
Royal,  commonly  called  Abbe  de  St.  Cyran,  concerted  a 
plan  of  a  new  system  of  doctrine,  concerning  divine  grace, 
founded,  in  part,  upon  some  of  the  condemned  errors  of 
Baius,  and  this  system  Jansenius  endeavoured  to  establish, 
in  a  book,  which,  from  St.  Augustine,  the  great  doctor  of 
grace,  he  entitled  Augustinus,  and  which  he  never  pub- 
lished, having  died  of  a  pestilence  in  1638,  declaring,  that 
he  submitted  his  work  to  the  judgment  of  the  Church. 
Fromond,  another  Louvanian  divine,  polished  the  style  of 
this  book,  and  put  it  in  the  press,  and  Verger  became  a 
most  strenuous  advocate  for  the  doctrine   it  contained. 
The  book  was  condemned  by  Urban  VIII.  in  1641,  and 
in  1653,  Innocent  X.  censured  five  propositions,  to  which 
the  errors  of  Jansenism   were  principally  reduced.     In 
1656,  Alexander  VII.  confirmed  those  decrees,  and   in 
1665  approved  the  formulary  for  receiving  and  subscribing 
them.   The  Jansenian  heresy  is  downright  Predestinarian- 
ism,  than  which  no  doctrine  can  be  imagined  more  mon- 
strous and  absurd.    In  the  year  1671,  Paschasius  Q,uenel, 
a  French  oratorian,  published  his  book  of  Moral  Reflections 
on   The  Gospels,  which  he  afterwards   augmented,  and 
added  like  reflections  on  the  rest  of  the  New  Testament. 
In  this  work  he  craftily  insinuated  the  errors  of  Jansenius, 
and  a  contempt  of  the  censures  of  the  Church.  The  fanati- 
cism of   Quietism  was  broached  by  Michael  Molinos,'  a 
Spanish  priest,  and  false  mystic,  who,  in  his  book  entitled 
j?'Ae  Spiritual  Guide,  endeavoured  to  establish  a  system 
of  perfect  contemplation,  inaction,  and  inattention,  which 
he  calls  Quiet,  and  in  which  he  teaches  that  the  soul  de- 
sires nothing,  not  even  salvation,  and  fears  nothing,  not 


J 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  338 

even  hell  itself.  Innocent  XI.  in  1637,  condemned  sixty- 
eight  propositions,  extracted  from  this  book,  as  respectively 
heretical,  scandalous,  and  blasphemous.  Semi- Quietism 
Avas  for  some  time  patronised  by  the  great  Fenelon,  arch- 
bishop of  Cambray,  who  having  in  some  measure  under- 
taken the  patronage  of  the  wi'itings  of  the  famous  Madam 
(jJuyon,  published  a  book  entitled  tlie  Maxims  of  the  Saints^ 
in  which  a  kind  of  Semi-Q,uietism  was  advanced.  This 
book,  with  twenty-three  rash  propositions,  extracted  out 
of  it,  was  condemned  by  Innocent  XII.  in  1G99,  on  the 
twelfth  of  March,  and  on  the  ninth  of  April  following  by 
the  author  himself,  who  closed  his  eyes  to  all  the  glimmer- 
ings of  human  understanding,  to  seek  truth  in  the  obe- 
dient simplicity  of  faith.  By  this  submission,  he  vanquished 
and  triumphed  over  his  defeat  itself. 

This  century  produced  innumerable  ecclesiastical  wri- 
ters. Some  of  the  most  celebrated  were  cardinals  Baro- 
nius,  Bellarmin,  Perron,  Pallavicini,  Norris,  de  Laurae, 
and  D'Aguirre,  cardinal  Bona,  Christianus  Lupus,  Lanuza, 
Launoius,  Bossuet,  bishop  of  Meaux,  Lambert  Le  Drou, 
Gavardi,  Estius,  Sylvius,  Tirinus,  A.  Lapide,  cardinal  de 
Berulle,  Spondanus,  Pontas,  Calmet,  Bollandus,  Vazquez, 
Suarez,  Aiigelus  Rocca,  Van  Espen,  Bartholomew  de  las 
Casas,  Canisius,  Menochius,  Gonet,  Contensonius,  Sec. 

In  the  year  1655,  Isaac  Peyrerius,  a  Calvinist  of  Bour- 
deaux,  faljricated  the  fabulous  system  of  the  Pre-adamites, 
but  he  abjured  his  error,  along  with  Calvinism,  and  sent 
the  treatise  he  had  written  on  this  subject  to  a  certain 
friend,  with  the  following  verse  of  Ovid,  the  word  urbcm 
being  changed  into  ignem. 

Vade  nee  invideOy  sine  me  liber  ibis  in  ignem. 

In  the  same  year,  1655,  commenced  the  sect  of  Quakers, 
so  called  from  their  quaking  or  trembling.  Like  other 
sectaries,  they  said  they  had  Scripture  in  their  favour, 
and  claimed  an  equal  right  to  interpret  it,  according  to 
their  own  private  judgment.  By  the  same  rule,  every  il- 
literate man  or  woman  might  begin  a  new  religion,  and 
warrant  it,  by  quoting  the  Sacred  Text,  and  setting  up  for 
a  better  judge  of  its  meaning  than  the  most  able  divine. 
An  Arian  might  say,  that  Scripture  is  on  his  side,  and  a 
Pelagian  would  make  it  speak  Pelagianism,  and  it  would 
be  impossible  to  convince  either  the  one  or  the  other  by 


340  HISTORY   OF    THE 

Scripture  alone.  The  Quakers  were  set  up  under  the 
usurpation  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  by  George  Fox,  an  Ana- 
baptist Shoemaker,  and  by  James  Nailor,  a  Quarter-mas- 
ter of  Lambert's  regiment,  in  Cromwell's  army.  The 
author  of  the  Classical  Dictionary  relates,  that  in  1656, 
James  JVailor  rode  into  Bristol,  a  man  and  a  woman  hold- 
ing the  reins  of  his  horse,  whilst  some  others  followed  him, 
fcinging,  Hobj,  i^oly,  ^lohjy  Lord  God  of  Sahaolh.  Being 
seized  by  the  magistrates,  and  tried  and  condemned  as  a 
feeducer  of  ilie  people,  his  tongue  was  bored  with  an  hot 
iron,  and  his  forehead  marked  with  a  B,  signifying  Blas- 
phemer. In  the  year  1670,  Benedict  Spinosa,  an  apostate 
at  Amsterdam,  published  an  impious  book  in  support  of 
Atheism,  wherein  he  was  followed  by  Lucilius  Vanini, 
and  Mathias  Kunzen,  Sec. 

About  the  beginning  of  this  century  the  Turks  were 
several  times  defeated  in  Hungary.  In  1611,  Sigismund 
III.  gained  a  signal  victory  over  their  army,  consisting  of 
two  hundred  and  ninety-two  thousand  men,  twenty-five 
thousand  of  them  being  killed  in  one  battle,  and  sixty 
thousand  in  diflerent  engagements.  Nine  hundred  thou- 
sand Moors  were  ordered  to  depart  out  of  vSpain  in  1610, 
under  the  reign  of  Philip  III.  In  1669,  the  isle  of  Crete 
was  subdued  by  the  Turks,  after  a  struggle  of  twenty-four 
years,  and  a  siege  of  twenty-eight  months,  and  twenty- 
seven  days.  One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Turks  and 
thirty  thousand  Cliristians  perished  in  the  war  of  Crete. 
In  the  year  1083,  under  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Leo- 
pold, one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Turks,  in  conjunction 
with  an  army  of  forty  thousand  Hungarians,  under  the 
command  of  Count  Tekeli,  laid  siege  to  Vienna.  John 
Sobieski,  king  of  Poland,  marched  against  them  with  ex- 
pedition, at  the  head  of  twenty-four  thousand  chosen  men, 
and  attacked  them  on  the  twelfth  day  of  September.  The 
whole  Turkish  army  fled  in  the  utmost  disorder,  and  left 
behind  them  all  their  artillery,  consisting  of  one  hundred 
and  fourscore  heavy  pieces  of  ordnance.  John  Sobieski 
having  found  immense  treasures  and  riches  in  the  camp 
of  the  Turks,  wrote  to  his  queen,  that  the  Grand  Vizir  had 
made  him  that  day  his  sole  executor. 


CHURCH   OF    CHRIST.  341 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

The  Church  of  the  Eighteenth  Century. 

The  succession  of  chief  pastors  in  the  Apostolic  see  has 
been  kept  up  in  this  age  by  Clement  XI.  Innocent  XIII. 
Benedict  XIII.  Clement  XII.  Benedict  XIV.  Clement 
XIII.  Clement  XIV.  and  Pius  VI. 

Clement  XI.  was  elected  on  the  23d  of  November,  1700. 
He  published  the  Constitution  Vineam  Domini  against  the 
Jansenists  in  the  year  1705,  condemned  QuenePsbook  of 
Moral  Reflections  in  1708  ;  and  1713,  by  the  Constitution 
Unigenitus,  censured  one  hundred  and  one  propositions 
extracted  from  it.  He  died  in  the  twenty-first  year  of 
his  pontificate.  Innocent  XIII.  succeeded  hira  and  held 
the  pontificate  two  years  and  near  ten  months.    Benedict 

XIII.  a  man  of  great  piety,  governed  the  church  from  the 
29th  of  May  1724,  till  the  21st  of  February,  1730,  and 
Clement  XII.  from  the  3d  of  July,  the  same  year,  till  the 
6th  of  February,  1740.  Benedict  XIV.  a  Pontiff  renowned 
for  his  profound  erudition  and  wisdom,  held  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter  from  the  17th  of  August,  1740,  till  the  3d  of 
May,  1758,  and  Clement  XIII.  from  the  6th  of  July,  1758, 
till  the  2d  of  February,  1769,     His  successor,  Clement 

XIV.  who  suppressed  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  year 
1773,  governed  the  church  from  the  19th  of  May,  1769, 
till  the  22d  of  September,  1774.  On  his  demise,  Pius  VI. 
the  present  pontiff,  was  elected  the  15th  of  February, 
1775,  and  has  already  filled  the  apostolic  chair  near  twenty 
years.  With  him  we  shall  here  close  the  catalogue  of 
Popes,  wherein  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  not  one  single 
Pope  has  ever  broke  off  from  the  line  of  succession  since 
the  days  of  the  Apostles,  but  all  of  them  have  continued 
on  in  the  same  communion,  and  governed  each  in  his  turn 
the  church  which  he  found  established  before  him.  Thus 
we  have  a  regular  chain  of  head  Pastors  ; — a  chain,  whose 
links  are  closely  joined,  and  hang  one  to  the  other  from 
the  first  to  the  last,  so  that  it  is  not  more  diflScult  to  prove, 
by  counting  back  from  the  present  Pope  through  the  cata- 
logue of  his  predecessors,  that  Pius  VI.  is  a  Successor  of 
St.  Peter,  the  first  Pope  and  bishop  of  Rome,  than  it  is 
to  prove  that  our  gracious  Sovereign  George  III.  is  a  sue- 

Ff2 


342  HISTORY    OF  THE 

cesser  of  the  first  King  who  founded  the  English  Monar- 
chy. What  consolation  must  it  give  to  the  faithful !  what 
conviction  !  to  find  that  from  the  chief  Pastor,  who  at  this 
day  fills  the  first  see  of  the  Church,  they  can  go  back 
without  interruption,  and  trace  their  religion  in  a  direct 
line  up  to  St.  Peter,  to  whom  Christ  {John  21.  15.)  com- 
mitted the  care  of  feedinghis  Lambs  and  his  Sheep,  that 
is,  his  entire  flock.  Nay,  what  is  more  ;  the  Church  of 
Christ,  taking  up  here  the  succession  of  the  ancient  peo- 
ple of  God,  and  resuming  the  high  Priests  that  served 
under  the  old  Law,  finds  herself  united  to  Aaron  and 
Moses,  from  whom  she  ascends  to  the  Patriarchs  and  Pro- 
phets, and  goes  up  to  the  very  origin  of  the  world  !  What 
progression  !  what  tradition  !  what  a  wonderful  series  and 
concatenation  !  what  greater  authority  can  there  be  than 
that,  which  centres  in  itself  the  authority  of  all  preceding 
ages,  and  the  ancient  traditions  of  mankind  up  to  the 
creation  itself  ?  Should  we  any  longer  wonder  that  God 
proposes  to  our  belief  so  many  mysteries,  so  worthy  of 
him,  and  at  the  same  time  impenetrable  to  human  under- 
standing .'*  Should  we  not  rather  wonder  that  the  Catholic 
faith,  being  built  upon  so  sure  and  so  manifest  an  authority, 
there  should  still  remain  so  many  unbelievers  in  the  world  .'' 
Millions  of  Christians  living  in  this  age,  have  seen,  heard, 
and  conversed  with  millions  of  their  predecessors  in  the 
diflferent  parts  of  the  world.  They  cannot  be  ignorant  of 
the  faith  that  every  generation  of  them,  from  the  cradle 
to  the  greatest  old  age,  held  and  professed.  They  bear 
witness  of  the  doctrine  which  the  great  body  of  Pastors 
taught  their  respective  flocks  by  common  consent,  which 
fathers  handed  down  to  their  children,  and  which  all  the 
faithful,  who  include  always  about  sixty  or  eighty  genera- 
tions together,  unanimously  believed  before  them  in  the 
last  age.  The  preceding  age  gave  the  like  testimony  of 
the  faith  and  practice  of  the  age  immediately  preceding  it 
for  the  s^ame  reason ;  so  that,  though  the  faithful  of  the 
presenf  age  have  not  seen  Jesus  Christ  or  his  apostles,  yet 
they  are  unexceptionable  witnesses  of  what  was  taught 
and  believed  in  the  days  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  be- 
cause they  are  unexceptionable  witnesses  of  what  was 
taught  and  believed  by  the  generation  that  immediately 
preceded  them,  and  this  generation  was  in  like  manner 
sm  unexceptionable  witness  of  the  doctrine  and  practice 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  34 


^ 


which  it  learned  from  the  generation  before  it,  and  so  up- 
wards to  the  very  beginning  of  Christianity.  This  per- 
petual mixture  of  so  many  ages  and  so  many  generations, 
interwoven  and  twisted  together,  the  one  with  the  other, 
still  united  in  religion,  though  spread  all  over  the  known 
world,  and  widely  differing  in  language,  manners,  and  cus- 
toms, and  almost  in  every  thing  else  but  faith,  forms  but 
one  great  Body  or  Church,  composed  of  all  true  believers, 
who  bear  one  testimony  for  seventeen  hundred  years, 
that  the  faith  we  now  profess,  is  the  self-same  that  was 
professed  by  the  prmiitive  Christians.  This  plainly  shows 
the  finger  of  God,  and  his  all-ruling  Providence  to  be  visi- 
bly here,  and  must  convince  all  unbiassed  and  unpreju- 
diced persons,  that  the  church  of  Christ  could  never  fall 
into  idolatry  or  superstition,  nor  alter  the  faith,  nor  fail 
to  teach  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ.  To  prevent  the  pos- 
sibility hereof,  the  Apostles,  when  they  first  planted  the 
faith,  took  particular  care  to  establish  an  invariable  Rule 
and  settled  principle  to  be  observed  in  every  succeeding 
generation,  by  means  of  which  the  self-same  revealed 
truths  that  were  believed  and  taught  by  them  in  the  in- 
fancy of  the  church,  should  be  uniformly  conveyed  down 
to  posterity  without  the  least  change,  innovation,  or  addi- 
tion, as  has  been  already  remarked  in  chap.  6  and  23.  By 
adhering  strictly  to  this  rule,  the  Church  has  inviolably 
preserved  the  purity  of  her  faith  in  every  age,  to  this  day  ; 
so  that  the  church  in  the  eighteenth  century  believes  pre- 
cisely what  was  believed  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
Church  of  the  seventeenth  believed  what  was  believed  in 
the  sixteenth,  the  church  of  the  sixteenth  believed  what 
was  believed  in  the  fifteenth,  and  so  up  to  the  days  of  the 
Apostles. 

Her  doctrine  is,  has  been,  or  shall  be,  announced  in  all 
parts  of  the  earth.  She  has  always  maintained  her 
ground  amidst  the  various  agitations  and  vicissitudes  of 
human  affairs.  The  very  Heathens  looked  upon  her  as 
the  tree,  the  trunk,  and  the  stock,  which  the  lopped  off  and 
withered  branches  had  left  still  whole  and  entire.  Cel- 
sus  himself  called  her  the  great  Church.  What  other 
communion  ever  inherited  the  name  of  Catholic  ?  What 
other  society  on  earth  can  trace  its  origin  higher  than  the 
time  of  its  forming  a  separate  congregation,  or  the  birth 
of  the  sectary  after  whom  it  is  called  ?  What  republic  or 


344  HISTORY    or    THE 

community,  eifher  sacred  or  profane,  ever  had  d,'  succes- 
sion of  so  many  great  personages,  and  so  few  bad  or  vi- 
cious men  in  so  great  a  number  of  chief  pastors,  as  the 
Church  of  Christ  has  had  since  the  days  of  St.  Peter  ? 
The  world  may  be  challenged  to  show  the  fifth  part  of  so 
many  successive  governors,  since  the  creation,  of  whom 
there  has  not  been  a  far  greater  number  who  have  abus- 
ed the  power  and  authority  of  their  office.  Out  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty-four  Popes  who  are  reckoned  from  St, 
Peter  down  to  our  time,  seventy-seven  are  ranked  in  the 
catalogue  of  the  Saints,  and  there  have  not  been  above 
ten  or  twelve  at  most  against  whom  even  their  most  vi- 
rulent enemies  could  find  occasion  to  throw  out  any  invec- 
tives. Mr.  Bower  himself  could  not  single  out  any  more 
for  the  objects  of  his  uncharitable  attacks,  bitter  invec- 
tives, and  foul  aspersions,  which  he  deals  out  with  such 
profusion,  that  one  would  be  apt  to  conclude  that  he  took 
delight  in  dwelling,  like  the  fly,  on  sores  and  corrup- 
tion, and  that  he  raked  in  all  the  sinks  of  Heathen  and 
angry  party  writers,  in  order  to  find  out  some  slander 
trumped  up  by  them,  that  upon  their  bare  assertion  he 
might  advance  it  in  his  history  as  an  undeniable  truth. 
Wherever  he  can  discover  any  real  or  imaginary  failings 
in  the  actions  of  some  of  the  most  shining  ornaments  of 
venerable  antiquity,  and  those  very  men  who  have  been  the 
admiration  of  past  ages  for  their  sanctity  and  learning, 
these  he  carefully  picks  out,  and  exaggerates  in  a  strange 
manner,  whilst  he  either  entirely  omits  and  forgets  their  edi- 
fying actions,  or  poisons  their  heroic  virtues  by  false  mo- 
tives, as  Alban  Butler  has  demonstrated  in  his  Remarks 
on  Bower'^s  Lives  of  the  Popes.  The  staining  of  so  many 
sheets  of  paper  with  his  peevish,  disgusting  narrative, 
could  not  answer  this  gentleman's  purpose,  even  though 
his  assertions  should  be  granted,  because  this  would  only 
show  that  popes  and  pastors  of  the  Church  are  not  im- 
peccable, but  not  that  any  scandals  or  vices  they  might 
have  been  guilty  of,  should  be  charged  on  Religion,  or 
imputed  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  since  it  has  never 
authorized  any  evil  by  her  decisions,  tenets,  or  instructions, 
and  it  is  by  them,  and  not  by  the  personal  misdemea- 
nours or  corruption  of  individuals,  that  we  are  to  judge 
the  body  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  sanctity  of  her  Reli- 
gion.   The  abuses  that  have  been  sometimes  made  of  Reli- 


J 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  345 

gion,  are  inileed  a  melancholy  proof  that  the  wickedness 
of  man  is  capable  of  abusing  the  very  best  things.  In  the 
^  ery  purest  ages  of  Christianity,  St.  Paul  complained  that 
H  great  part  of  the  pastors  of  his  own  time  sought  their 
own  interests,  and  not  those  of  Jesus  Christ — 2  Phihp  12. 
However,  even  in  the  worst  of  times  the  morality  of  the 
Gospel  has  been  constantly  practised  by  milHons  of  the 
faithful,  and  every  age  has  produced  shining  examples  of 
virtue,  perfect  models  of  sanctity,  and  a  numberless  mul- 
titude of  learned  prelates,  eminent  doctors,  zealous 
pastors,  edifying  priests,  spotless  virgins,  fervent  reli- 
gious, and  devout  recluses. 

Since  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  many 
eminent  servants  of  God  have  lived  and  died  in  the  odour 
of  sanctity  5  a  prodigious  number  of  ecclesiastical  writers 
has  illustrated  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  by  their  volu- 
minous works  ;  great  conversions  have  been  wrought  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  world,  and  divers  apostolic  missionaries 
have  suffered  martyrdom  in  China,  in  Tonquin,  in  Co- 
chinchina,  in  India,  &,o.  but  the  elncidatiou  of  thasiA  mat- 
ters is  left  to  the  decision  of  the  Church,  and  reserved  for 
the  historians  of  the  ensuing  age. 

The  narrow  limits  to  which  this  epitome  is  confined, 
allow  only  a  few  observations  to  be  made  here  on  the 
impious  writings  of  a  set  of  Atheists,  Deists,  Materialists, 
Fatahsts,  and  Freethinkers,  who  have  disgraced  the  pre- 
sent century,  by  blasphemously  attacking  the  attributes 
of  the  Deity,  the  mysteries  of  Faith,  and  the  miracles  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament.  These  mighty  opposers  of 
revelation  style  themselves  philosophers,  and  boast  of 
taking  reason  for  their  chief  guide,  whilst  they  appeal  to 
the  passions  more  than  to  reason,  and  artfully  disguise 
and  gloss  over  their  monstrous  errors  and  inconsistent  sys- 
tems with  the  exterior  dress  and  pomp  of  elegant  lan- 
guage. They  call  the  present  age  the  enlightened  age, 
and  the  age  of  reason,  though,  with  respect  to  them,  it 
might  be  called  more  justly,  the  age  of  stubborn  incredu- 
lity, and  of  a  presumptuous  and  intolerant  philosophy, 
tliat  is  destructive  at  once  both  of  religion  and  morality. 
Having  filled  their  heads  with  chimeras,  with  reveries, 
and  false  ideas  in  metaphysics,  they  raise  disputes  on  every 
tiling,  and  trample  down  all  authority,  as  if  they  made  it 
a  rule  not  to  see  as  others  do,    and  as  if  tJiey  fancied 


346  .   HISTORY    OF   THE 

themselves  able,  by  the  power  of  their  eloquence  and  so- 
phistry, to  overset  every  truth  with  impunity.    The  beauty 
of  their  style  makes  the  principal  merit  of  their  literary 
productions.     They  dazzle  their  unguarded  readers  with 
the  brilliancy  of  their  wit  ;  they  charm  them  with  a  va- 
riety of  figures  and  a  parade  of  choice  expressions  and 
well  arranged  periods  ;  they  enchant  them  with  ingenious 
saUies  and  contrasts,  with  diverting  descriptions,  with  nice 
pleasantries,  and  soft  graces  ;  and  make  them  insensibly 
swallow  the  subtle  poison  of  irreligion  and  libertinism, 
that  is  concealed  in  their  writings  under  the  specious  title 
and  name  of  philosophy.    In  short,  they  are  fine  speakers  ; 
they  write  with  an  elegant  and  natural  turn,  and  with  a 
force  and  eloquence  that  scarce  leave  to  a  common  read- 
er the  liberty  to  examine,  to  discuss,  to  compare  their 
thoughts,  to  see  if  they  be  true,  just,  and  consequential. 
This  is  the  artifice  which  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Gibbon, 
Paine,  and   several  new  philosophers  of  our  days,  have 
employed  to  infatuate  and  ensnare  so  many  giddy,  un- 
thinking young  ppople    of  both  scaccs,  who   do    not  pay 
proper  attention  to  the  sense  and  substance  of  things,  but 
are  to  be  captivated  at  the  first  reading  of  an  author  by 
the  beauty  of  his  language,  and  by  an  empty  jingle  of  fine 
words.     Their    taste,  in  general,  is  not  turned  to  books 
that  require  thought  and  attention  in  reading.     Novels, 
romances,  Httle  starts  of  wit,  trifling  anecdotes,  and  such 
authors  as  express  best  the  passions,  paint  with  the  most 
force,  and  have  the  most  brilliant  colouring  of  imagina- 
tion, are  perused  by  them  with  avidity,  though  they  are 
defective  in  truth  and   solidity,  and  faulty  in  point  of 
good  sense,  reason,  and  judgment.     They  cannot  submit 
to  the  reading  of  the  Imitation  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  the 
like  books  of  piety,  which  tend  to   improve  the  morals 
and  cultivate  virtue,  whilst  works  of  an  immoral  and  per- 
nicious  tendency  are   unhappily  become   the  favourite 
and  fashionable  entertaiment  of  the  age.     Heedless  of 
things,  and  running  after  shadows,  they  think  a  book  ex- 
cellent if  it  be  well  written,  though  as  Horace  himself 
justly  remarks,  good  sense  is  the  basis  and  source  of  the 
art  of  writing  well.     Thus  the  tender  sensibility  of  youth 
contracts  a  fond  desire  for  what  it  should  abhor,  and  a  love 
for  what  it  should  avoid.     At  first  they,  perhaps,  think  j 
only  of  studying  the  beauty  of  their  language,  as  if  ihey 


^ 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  347 

could  not  draw  pure  language  and  eloquence  from  other 
sources  ;  but  in  the  end  they  learn  by  woful  experience 
the  weakness  of  human  nature,  and  the  sad  consequence 
of  exposing  themselves  to  the  dangerous  occasion  of 
sin.  How  frequently  are  their  understandings  per- 
verted, their  hearts  debauched,  their  passions  inflamed, 
their  morals  depraved,  and  their  innocence  sacrificed,  by 
the  lecture  of  such  impious  productions  ?  Was  it  not  by 
these  means  that  Voltaire  instilled  the  poison  of  his  errors 
and  hcentious  maxims  into  the  hearts  and  minds  of  a  great 
part  of  the  French  nation  ?  Was  it  not  by  strewing  the 
paths  of  falsehood  and  corruption  with  so  many  flowers 
and  charms,  that  he  made  so  many  apostates,  and  ruined 
such  a  number  of  souls  ?  May  not  his  pen  be  justly  com- 
pared to  the  sword  of  Mahomet  ?  Yet  never  was  there  a 
writer  more  superficial,  or  who  had  less  of  the  real  philo- 
sopher. Instead  of  arguments  and  proofs,  he  has  recourse 
to  banters  and  pleasantries.  He  is  satisfied  with  his  jests 
on  questions  the  most  important,  and  seems  to  glory  in 
turning  every  thing  into  ridicule,  at  the  expense  of  decency 
and  truth.  He  attacks  the  Christian  Religion  with  the 
weapons  of  falsehood  and  misrepresentation.  In  his  dis- 
courses there  is  neither  principle,  sequel,  or  connexion. 
He  seldom  gives  any  thing  from  his  own  fund,  and  even 
when  he  is  original,  we  have  no  reason  to  admire  his 
learning  or  accuracy.  When  his  writings  are  analyzed 
and  coolly  examined,  they  are  found  to  be  nothing  but 
surface  and  colouring,  devoid  of  truth,  solidity,  or  prin- 
ciple. Nothing  can  be  discovered  in  them,  or  in  the  so 
much  boasted  works  of  the  other  modern  philosophers, 
comparable  to  the  solidity,  strength  of  reasoning,  and 
depth  of  knowledge  which  we  observe  in  the  writers  of 
the  two  foregoing  centuries.  What  are  they  all  put  to- 
gether, when  compared  with  a  Bossuet  ?  Never  has  the 
respectable  name  of  philosophy  been  more  abused  than  by 
them,  in  order  to  give  full  scope  to  the  most  monstrous 
errors.  Voltaire  has  collected  from  Tindal,  Collins,  Bo- 
lingbroke,  and  others,  whatever  could  be  ofiered  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  holy  Scriptures  ;  these  materials  he 
took  care  to  embellish,  by  flashes  and  lively  sallies  of 
a  poignant  wit,  on  which  account  they  have  been  greedily 
received,  whilst  the  answers  are  neglected  and  forgot- 
ten, perhaps  because  they  are  not  written  in   so  di- 


348  UISTORV    OF   THE 

verting  and  entertaining  a  style.  It  is  to  be  wished,  how- 
ever, that  those  who  have  met  with  the  olijections  urged 
by  him,  would  also  read  the  answers  which  have  been 
given  by  the  Jews,  and  by  Abbe  Guence,  professor  of 
rhetoric  in  the  university  of  Paris,  and  other  able  ad- 
vocates for  tlie  Scriptures,  They  would  be  convinced 
thereby,  that  whatever  applause  might  have  been  due  to 
the  vivacity  of  Voltaire's  genius,  and  the  fine  turn  of  his 
humour,  had  he  but  made  a  better  use  of  his  talents,  he 
certainly  merits  the  severest  censure  for  having  indulged 
his  wit  in  treating  the  word  of  God  in  a  ludicrous  and 
contemptuous  manner.  It  is  true  indeed,  the  praise  or 
the  resentment  of  mankind  is  now  of  small  moment  to 
liim,  but  his  works  remain,  and  it  is  equitable  that  they 
should  receiv'e  due  correction.  As  for  Rousseau,  he  has 
hardly  much  more  than  the  appearance  of  a  philosopher. 
Had  he  confined  himself  to  subjects  of  literature  and 
amusement,  he  would  have  met  with  the  most  glorious 
success,  but  the  ambition  of  dogmatizing  having  unhappily 
seized  him,  he  has  succeeded  only  in  betraying  an  extra- 
vagant pride  and  a  rancorous  spirit.  With  his  extraordi- 
nary talents  he  has  only  formed  an  absurd  hypothesis,  an 
unconnected  plan,  a  building  wherein  every  part  stands 
in  need  of  a  prop,  a  chaos,  rather  than  a  system.  He  is 
every  where  in  contradiction  with  himself,  not  only  in  the 
same  book,  but  often  in  the  same  page.  His  ideas  are 
extravagant,  his  reasonings  false  and  captious,  his  views 
chimerical  and  full  of  paradoxes.  The  reading  of  his  works, 
so  far  from  staggering  the  belief  of  revelation  in  a  sound 
miderstandino'  and  well-informed  mind,  ought  rather  to  con- 
tribute to  the  strengthening  of  it.  If,  therefore,  they  some- 
times puzzle  the  reader  with  their  subtleties  and  wretch- 
ed sophisms, — the  glaring  inconsistency  of  their  argu- 
ments, and  their  self-contradictions,  are  an  evident  proof 
that  revelation  cannot  be  attacked  by  just  reasoning,  and, 
consequently,  that  it  is  true,  as  M.  Bergier  has  demonstrat- 
ed, in  his  Deism  Self-refuted^  2  vols.  London  printed,  1775. 
With  respect  to  Mr.  Gibbon,  he  imposes  on  his  readers 
by  the  elegance  of  his  composition,  and  by  his  parade  of 
vague  and  unwarrantable  quotations.  As  if  he  imaghied 
wisdom  was  born  with  him,  he  censures  the  primitive  Fa- 
thers with  peculiar  severity,  and  perpetually  vilifies  the 
most  sacred  truths  with  contemptuous  irony.     Instead  of 


J 


CHURCH    OF    CilRISI.  349 

quoting  facts  and  passages  faithfully,  he  has  recourse  to 
shameful  falsifications,  and  supports  his  cause  by  manifest 
calumnies,  in  order  to  father  the  absurdest  opinions  on 
the  most  venerable  writers  of  antiquity.  He  retails  objec- 
tions, as  new,  which  had  been  started  often  against  the 
Divine  Original  of  Christianity,  and  as  often  refuted  and 
exploded,  long  before  he  was  born.  The  indefensible  ar- 
tifices to  which  he  recurs  have  been  unmasked,  and  his 
arguments  have  been  ably  refuted,  by  several  learned  men 
of  this  age,  who  have  zealously  stept  forth  to  support  the 
cause  of  the  Christian  Religion  with  solid  truths  and  sound 
reasoning.  Watson,  Whitaker,  Davis,  Chelsum,  Ran- 
dolph, with  other  members  of  the  universities  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  have  confuted  his  principles,  pointed  out 
his  inaccuracies,  and  shown  that  his  writings  teem  with 
misrepresentations  and  base  calumnies.  They  have  prov- 
ed that  this  whole  plan  of  accounting  for  the  rapid  pro- 
gress of  the  Christian  Religion  among  the  Gentile  na- 
tions, is  a  stale  infidel  topic,  and  that,  as  Mosheim  says  in 
his  Ecclesiastical  History,  "  it  is  necessary  to  have  re- 
"  course  to  an  omnipotent  and  invisible  hand,  as  the  true 
**  and  proper  cause  of  that  amazing  rapidity,  v/ith  which 
*'  Christianity  spread  itself  upon  the  earth  by  poor  feeble 
"  instruments.  Those  who  pretend  to  assign  other  causes 
"  of  this  surprising  event,  indulge  themselves  in  idle  fic- 
"  tions,  which  must  disgust  every  attentive  observer  of 
"  men  and  things." 

This  century  will  be  ever  remarkable  in  the  annals  of 
history  for  the  French  Revolution,  which  commenced  on 
the  14th  of  July  1789,  and  in  a  short  time  exhibited  to 
mankind  the  most  bloody  tragedy,  that  since  the  creation 
was  ever  acted  in  any  civilized  nation.  The  seeds  of  this 
revolution  had  long  been  sown  in  France  by  a  set  of  men, 
who  styling  themselves  philosophers,  had  formed  a  faction 
and  divided  among  themselves  the  task  of  overturning  the 
Throne  and  the  Altars.  At  first  they  concealed  their  im- 
pious designs,  and  spoke  the  language  of  universal  benevo- 
lence, humanity,  and  toleration.  They  boasted  of  the 
lights  which  they  were  to  diifuse  through  the  world,  and 
of  the  rights  of  man,  which  they  pretended  to  restore. 
But  the  atrocity  of  those  pretended  philosophers  was  one 
day  to  be  unmasked,  and  the  Galilean  Church  and  State 
were  to  be  convinced,  by  vvoful  experiencej  that  they  were 


350  HISTORY    OF    THte 

actuated  by  a  mortal  hatred  of  Royalty  and  of  the  Priest- 
hood, and  determmed  to  stop  at  nothing  that  might  possi- 
bly bring  about  the  destruction  both  of  the  one  and  the 
other.  TV/ien  shall  I  see,  said  Diderot,  the  last  of  Kings 
strangled  with  the  entrails  of  the  last  of  Piiests  ?  To  such 
lengths,  alas  !  are  men  unhappily  driven,  when  they  lose 
sight  of  religion,  and  reject  or  abuse  the  lights  that  God 
gives  them.  By  a  just  and  terrible  judgment,  they  are 
abandoned  to  the  errors  of  their  minds  and  to  the  depravity 
of  their  hearts,  and  suffered  to  plunge  into  a  worse  dark- 
ness than  that  of  ancient  idolatry.  They  are  left  to  them- 
selves and  to  their  lawless  passions.  They  break  through 
all  bonds,  lay  aside  all  shame,  make  a  sacrilegious  use  of 
their  reason,  bhnd  themselves  more  and  more,  until,  be- 
ing dead  to  grace,  they  fall  into  the  most  dissolute  de- 
bauchery and  the  most  complete  irreligion.  The  leading 
Heroes  of  this  revolutionary  philosophy,  and  all  the  sects 
and  impious  wits  of  the  day,  acknowledged  Voltaire  to  b6 
their  father,  and  solicited  for  him  the  honour,  pomp,  and 
triumph  of  an  apotheosis  of  an  ancient  Roman.  The  Na- 
tional Assembly  enacted  that  the  majestic  Church  of  St. 
Genevieve,  the  most  august  fabric  in  the  capital  of  France, 
lately  finished  at  the  immense  expense  of  more  than  eighty 
miUions  of  livres,  and  forty  years'  labour,  should  be  con- 
verted into  a  Pantheon,  and  serve  as  a  mausoleum  for  the 
reception  of  the  remains  of  Voltaire  and  other  declared 
enemies  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  ReHgion.  An  insidious 
Constitution  was  afterwards  framed  to  sap  the  very  foun- 
dations of  Religion,  and  to  subject  the  Gospel  to  the  ca- 
pricious will  of  men,  who  professing  no  religion  them- 
selves, were  enemies  to  every  religion.  Their  hatred  of 
all  religion  impelled  them  to  enforce  an  oath  on  the  Clergy, 
which  their  fidelity  to  the  laws  of  their  conscience  would 
not  allow  them  to  take.  Unmerited  calumnies  were  there- 
fore artfully  spread,  in  order  to  prejudice  the  minds  of 
the  people  against  them.  They  were  persecuted  with 
open  violence,  the  altars  were  stained  with  the  blood  of 
many  innocent  victims,  that  refused  to  join  the  faction ; 
several  were  paraded  about  the  public  streets  in  the  most 
humihating  garbs,  with  labels  the  most  insulting  and  inju- 
rious, and  with  their  mouths  crammed  with  hay.  Several 
were  plunged  into  rivers  with  pitchforks  fixed  to  their 
necks,  and  held  under  the  water  till  they  expired.     Seve- 


S 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  '3ol 

ral  wei-e  beheaded,  and  their  heads  carried  on  pikes 
amidst  imprecations  and  songs.  Several  were  knocked 
down  in  the  Churches,  and  kicked  and  buffeted  by  mer- 
ciless ruffians,  hired  for  that  purpose.  It  would  be  an 
endless  task  to  enumerate  all  the  horrid  sacrileges,  assassi- 
nations, and  savage  cruelties  that  were  perpetrated  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  kingdom  by  the  lawless  populace,  who 
were  encouraged  thereto  by  men  in  power.  Near  six 
hundred  persons  were  butchered  in  the  streets  of  Nimes 
imder  the  pretext  of  exterminating  aristocracy.  Mr.  Nol- 
hac,  the  venerable  pastor  of  St.  Symphorien,  in  the 
eightieth  year  of  his  age,  and  six  hundred  of  his  flock, 
were  massacred  at  Avignon,  with  bars  of  massive  iron, 
and  torn  and  disfigured  with  sabres.  The  cities  of  Lyons, 
T3ourdeaux,  Rouen,  Sec.  exhibited  also  most  dreadful 
scenes  of  ferocious  cruelty,  bloodshed,  and  barbarity.  The 
sacred  asylums  of  piety,  and  monasteries  of  the  Rehgious 
of  both  sexes  were  thrown  open,  pillaged,  and  profaned. 
Sanctuaries  were  pulled  down,  the  sacred  vessels  were 
abused,  the  Images  were  defaced,  the  paintings  were  dis- 
figured, the  bells  were  melted,  the  tombs  of  the  dead 
were  violated,  and  bullets  were  made  of  their  leaden  cof- 
fins, for  the  use  of  the  soldiery.  In  short,  the  supporters 
of  the  Throne  were  either  guillotined,  imprisoned,  or 
obliged  to  emigrate,  and  the  defenders  of  Religion  were 
either  murdered,  exiled,  or  reserved  as  victims  to  be  im- 
molated at  a  future  period. 

Of  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  French  Bishops  or 
Archbishops,  only  four  prevaricated.  The  number  of 
priests,  both  secular  and  regular,  who  persevered  in  a 
steady  refusal  of  perjury  and  apostacy,  amounted  to  at 
least  seventy  thousand.  Those  who  had  not  consulted 
the  safety  of  their  lives  in  time,  by  travelling  over  moun- 
tains and  crossing  the  seas  in  quest  of  some  hospitable 
spot,  were  cast  into  prisons,  and  compelled  to  abandon 
their  flocks  to  mercenaries  and  ravenous  wolves,  who 
were  thrust  into  the  pastoral  ministry  by  a  set  of  laymen, 
who  had  no  mission  or  spiritual  jurisdiction  themselves, 
and  consequently  could  impart  none.  Thus  a  phantom 
w^as  substituted  in  France  for  the  Church,  schism  for  unity, 
intruders  for  lawful  pastors,  illusion  and  error  for  reality 
and  truth,  anarchy  and  confusion  for  order  and  discipline, 
liberty   and   equality  for  regularity  and,  subordinatioD. 


3'5'2  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Nothing  can  equal  the  barbarity,  with  which  numbers  of 
the  nonjuring  ecclesiastics  were  sacrificed  at  Paris,  the 
very  metropolis  of  the  revolution,  and  under  the  eyes  of 
the  new  Legislators.  In  the  first  week  of  September, 
1792,  one  hundred  and  sixty  Priests  were  massacred  in 
the  prison  of  ha  Force,  eighty-six  at  the  Conciergerie, 
and  ninety -two  at  the  seminary  of  Si.  Firmin,  according 
to  the  printed  lists,  then  published.  About  one  hundred 
and  eighty  Priests  were  massacred  at  the  Ahbaye  and  at 
the  Chapel  of  the  Carmelites,  in  the  space  of  two  or  three 
hours.  It  was  here  the  illustrious  Archbishop  of  Aries 
and  his  brother  the  bishop  of  Saintes,  were  most  inhu- 
manly murdered,  whilst,  in  imitation  of  the  primitive 
Christians  in  tlie  Catacombs,  they  were  on  their  knees 
united  in  prayer  and  offering  to  God  the  sacrifice  of  their 
lives,  in  coni])any  with  several  other  ecclesiastics  of  distin- 
guished merit,  who,  at  the  same  time,  likewise  sealed 
with  their  blood  the  faith  they  had  so  gloriously  defended. 
The  murders  continued  at  the  Conciergerie  with  very  little 
interruption  for  twenty-six  hours  ;  but  they  lasted  at  La 
Force  from  the  second  of  September  at  night  till  late  on 
the  fifth.  It  was  the  common  opinion  at  Paris  that  the 
number  of  the  slain,  including  both  Clergy  and  Laity, 
was  not  less  than  twelve  thousand.  Five  months  had  not 
elapsed  from  this  tragical  scene,  when  his  Most  Christian 
Majesty,  Lewis  XVI.  appeared  on  the  scaffold  the  21st  of 
January,  1793,  and  his  head  fell  by  a  decree  of  a  Con- 
vention, tiiat  styled  itself  National.  Maria  Antoinette  of 
Austria  and  Lorrain,  his  Royal  consort,  and  Madame  Eli- 
zabeth, his  sister,  were  likewise  guillotined,  by  a  decree 
of  the  same  self-created  Tribunal.  For  fbrther  particu- 
lars, the  reader  is  referred  to  the  writings  of  Maury,  Bar- 
ruel,  and  other  well-informed  writers,  who  have  faithfully 
collected  the  memorable  events  and  transactions  of  the 
present  age  from  the  most  authentic  documents,  in  order 
to  transmit  a  genuine  history  of  them  to  posterity. 

Let  us  therefore  stop  here  in  silent  admiration,  adoring 
the  unsearchable  ways  and  counsels  of  Divine  Providence, 
which  for  its  own  wise  reasons  has  permitted  a  proud  in- 
tolerant philosophy  to  mount  the  throne  of  the  once  flou- 
rishing, but  now  miserably  convulsed,  Kingdom  of  France, 
to  trample  upon  so  large  a  portion  of  the  Christian 
<^hurch,  and  to  carry  the  calamities  of  war,  fire,  and  de- 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  353 

solation  into  several  of  the  surrounding  Nations  of  Europe. 
It  is  to  be  hoped,  that  the  blessings  of  peace  will  be  shortly 
restored,  and  that  God  in  his  great  mercy  will  be  pleased 
to    avert  from  us  in  his  own  good  time  those  dreadful 
scourges   and  disasters,  which  his   provoked  justice  has 
suffered  this  part  of  the  world  to  be  visited  with  in  o\ir 
days,  in  order  to  punish  the  crying  sins  of  the  wicked, 
and  to  exercise  the  virtues  of  the  just.    At  all  events,  the 
Church  of  Christ  being  the  work  of  God  himself,  will  al- 
ways stand   firm,  and   weather   out  every  storm  raised 
against  her  by  the  powers  of  hell,  whilst  the  works  of 
men,  though  supported  for  a  time  with  ever  so  much  ob- 
stinacy and  enthusiasm,  must  perish  and  moulder  away 
in  the  end.    The  perpetual  and  uninterrupted  continuance 
of  the  Church  for  so  many  past  ages,  notwithstanding  the 
various  revolutions  that  have  happened  in  the  world  since 
her  first  establishment,  is  a  certain  sign  of  what  is  to  hap- 
pen hereafter.     Nay,  it  is  nothing  less  than  a  standing 
Miracle,  that  proves  the  truth  of  her  religion,  and  shows 
her  to  be  always  under  the  protection  of  Heaven,  and  the 
unerring  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost.    It  appears  plainly 
from  the  contents  of  the  foregoing  Synopsis,  that  she  is 
the  beloved  Spouse  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  first  and  most 
ancient  communion  of  Christians  in  the  world.    It  cannot 
be  denied  that  she  was  the  true  Church  of  Christ  whea 
St.  Paul  wrote  his  epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  declared 
that  their  faith  was  spoken  of  through  the  whole  tvorld,  Rom. 
1.  8.  and  of  course  she  is  still  the  true  Church,  since  her 
faith  can  never  fail  or  vary,  for  the  sanded  ivorxls  of  God 
once  put  into  hennouth,  shall  never  depart  from  her  moidh,  as 
God  in  his  Covenant  with  her  expressly  promised. — Isai. 
1. 59.  In  her  are  to  be  found  the  four  distinguishing  charac- 
ters or  marks  of  the  true  Church,  assigned  by  the  Nicene 
Creed,  when  it  says,  /  believe  One,  Holy,   Catholic,  and 
Apostolic  Church ;  for  she  is  One  in  her  faith.  Holy  in  her 
morals.  Catholic  or  Universal  in  her  extent,  and  Perpetual 
in  her  duration.     She  is  also  Apostolic,  because  she  de- 
scends by  a  lineal  succession  of  seventeen  hundred  years 
from  the  twelve  Apostles,  and  derives  her  doctrine,  her 
priesthood,  and  her  mission  from  them.     Although  the 
members  of  her  communion  are  spread  over  all  regions, 
yet  they  are  united  in  one  and  the  same  faith,  and  in  the 
participation  of  the  same  Sacraments. — They  all  believe 
Gs2 


354  HISTORY   OJP   THE 

the  same  divine  truths,  hold  the  same  principles,  teacli 
the  same  doctrine,  preach  the  same  Gospel,  profess  the 
same  Religion,  offer  the  same  sacrifice,  receive  the  same 
Sacraments,  and  concur  in  one  and  the  same  w^orship. 
She  justly  glories  in  having  had  always  in  her  communion 
a  great  number  of  Saints,  whose  eminent  virtues  have 
been  frequently  attested  by  real  miracles.  Her  doctrine, 
if  attended  to,  conduces  to  all  virtue,  sanctity,  and  perfec- 
tion. Far  from  holding  out  any  encouragement  to  sin, 
or  adopting  any  impious  principle  whatever,  she  chal- 
lenges her  greatest  adversaries  to  show  the  smallest  stain 
in  any  part  of  what  she  really  teaches  as  an  article  of  her 
belief.  She  detests  and  condemns  all  traitorous  plots, 
conspiracies,  rebellions,  massacres,  and  every  kind  of 
perjury,  even  upon  the  score  of  religion.  Tribunals  of 
inquisition  constitute  no  part  of  her  Creed.  They  are  hu- 
man laws  of  polity  or  state-government,  received  in  some 
Catholic  countries  and  rejected  in  others  ;  though  without 
acting  the  part  of  an  advocate  for  them,  truth  and  justice 
must  oblige  every  impartial  and  unprejudiced  person  to 
acknowledge,  that  they  are  grossly  misrepresented  by 
several  writers.  If  men  governed  by  the  spirit  of  the 
world  have  sometimes  made  use  of  the  name  of  religion 
as  a  pretext  or  blind  to  cover  their  passions  and  criminal 
projects,  in  actions  wherein  it  had  no  share,  Religion 
should  not  be  charged  with  their  misdemeanours,  nor  is 
it  accountable  for  the  abuse  of  its  name,  since  the  wicked- 
ness of  man  will  abuse  even  the  very  best  things.  It  is 
not,  therefore,  the  fault  of  Religion  if  many  of  its  profess- 
ors do  not  practise  what  it  teaches  and  inculcates.  Nor 
does  the  Church  cease  to  be  holij^  because  there  is  a  mix- 
ture of  good  and  bad  in  it,  for  a  Church  upon  earth  with- 
out any  sinners  in  its  communion  would  not  answer  the 
description  given  by  the  Gospel  of  the  Chm'ch  of  Christ, 
which  is  compared  to  a  floor^  in  which  there  is  chaff 
mingled  with  wheat,  Matth.  3,  to  a  net  in  which  there  are 
bad  fish  as  well  as  good,  Matth.  13,  and  to  3l  field  wherein 
tares  are  suffered  to  grow  up  with  the  good  grain,  Matth. 
13,  till  the  harvest  time,  or  the  end  of  the  world,  when  the 
separation  is  to  take  place.  In  the  interim,  says  St.  Au- 
gustine, the  wicked,  signified  by  the  tares,  are  permitted fl| 
to  live  among  the  just,  either  that  they  may  be  converted, 
or  that  the  just  may  be  tried  and  exercised  by  them.  The 

m 


CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  355 

Church  incessantly  bewails  their  misfortune,  and  zealously 
endeavours  to  reclaim  them  from  their  evil  ways,  and  con- 
duct them  by  the  most  efficacious  helps  and  means  into 
the  narrow  way  that  leads  to  "  happy  eternity. 

In  fine,  the  Church  justly  inherits  the  titles  of  Catholic 
and  Apostolic.  She  is  the  Church  of  all  ages  and  nations, 
She  is  not  confined  to  one  corner  of  the  earth,  or  to  one 
single  nation,  like  the  Je\\'ish  Synagogue,  but  diffused 
over  all  countries,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going 
down  thereof — It  was  from  her  that  the  different  empires 
and  kingdoms  of  the  earth  first  received  their  Christianity, 
and  her  faith  is,  or  has  been,  and  shall  be  announced  in 
all  places  of  the  universe  before  the  day  of  general  judg- 
ment. The  contents  of  this  compendious  narrative  plainly 
show,  that  she  has  lineally  descended  to  this  very  day 
from  the  first  society  of  Christians,  founded  by  the  Apos- 
tles, and  that  she  has  preserved  the  sacred  doctrine  de- 
livered by  them  at  the  beginning,  without  the  smallest  al- 
teration or  innovation  of  her  faith  in  any  one  article  of 
revealed  truths. 

Happy  they  who  live  up  to  the  dictates  of  her  religion, 
and  honour  it  by  the  purity  of  their  morals,  and  by  a  con- 
tinual observance  of  its  precepts,  a  mere  speculative  or 
abstractive  faith  not  being  sufficient,  but  a  belief,  that 
worketh  by  charity,  being  required.  Those  who  are 
reared  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  instructed  in  her  doc- 
trine, educated  in  her  principles,  and  sanctified  by  her 
sacraments,  which  are  so  many  conduits  of  divine  grace, 
ever  open  and  ever  flowing  for  the  sanctification  of  souls, 
"which  demean  themselves  in  a  manner  becoming  worthy 
members  of  so  illustrious  a  body,  of  ^^hich  Christ  is  the 
head.  They  should  always  acknowledge  God's  infinite 
mercy  with  sentiments  of  gratitude,  and  return  him  the 
warmest  thanks  for  the  signal  benefit  and  grace  of  their 
vocation.  Far  from  giving  any  scandal  or  offence,  they 
should  edify  their  neighbour  by  the  practice  of  the  Chris- 
tian Virtues  of  humility,  meekness,  justice,  charity.  This 
obligation  is  grounded  on  the  sanctity  of  the  religion  they 
profess,  on  the  dignity  of  the  character  they  bear,  and  on 
the  sacred  vows  which  they  have  made  at  the  Baptismal 
Font. 

THE  END 


AN 


ALPHABETICAL  TABLE 

OF  PARTICULAR  PERSONAGES  AND  MATTERS 
TREATED  OF  IN  THIS  SYNOPSIS. 

THE  NUMBERS  DENOTE  THE  PAG£S. 


Abelard,  p.  273. 

Academies,  210,  246,  251,  247, 

2dl),  292,  300. 
Accphali,  200. 
Adrian,  G6. 
St.  Agapetus,  199. 
Alaric,  182,  183,213. 
Albigenses,  269,  280. 
Alcoran,  223. 
Alcuin,  235,  236,  247. 
Alexander  III.  269. 
Alexander  Severus,  109. 
Almsdeeds,  104,  276,  283. 
St.  Ambrose,  160. 
St.  Amphilochius,  151. 
St.  Anselni,  259. 
St.  Anthony  of  Egypt,  108. 
St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  285. 
Antipodes.  237. 
Apostles,  20,  27,  29,  34,  46,  52. 

54,  55. 
Arius,  129,  132,  133. 
Arians,  132,  133,  134,  135,  176. 
Arnobius,  108. 
Arnold  of  Brescia.  273. 
St.  Athanasius,  132,  135. 
Attila,  184. 

St.  Augustine,  161,  187,  188. 
Aurelius  Prudentins,  157. 
St.  Austin,  of  England,  205. 
St.  Babylas,  173. 
Bajazet"  226. 
Baldwin,  2Gi>. 


Bangor  Abbey,  208,  275. 
Barbarossa,  263,  270. 
St.  Basil,  145. 
Bede,  Venerable,  235. 
Belisarins,  200,  201. 
Berengarius,  254. 
St.  Bernard,  271,  272,  273,  274, 
Boetius,  198. 
St.  Bonaventure,  285. 
St.  Boniface,  237. 
Bower,  300. 
Burials,  91. 

Calendar  reformed,  219. 
Calvin,  324. 
St.  Camillus,  335. 
Canonization,  253. 
Carthusians,  257. 
Catechumens,  151. 
Cocilian,  130. 
Cccilius,  97. 

Celibacy,  37,  136,  147,  153,  203. 
Celsus,  107. 

Cemetery  of  Cali.xtus,  91. 
Cerulnrius,  243,  255. 
Charlemagne,  243,  246,  247. 
Christ.  Ciiurch,  275. 
Christ.  Rome,  30,215,216. 
C/hristopher  Columbus,  331. 
Church  of  St.  Peter,  312,  313. 
Church  of  St.  Paul,  318 
Cluirch    of  St.    John   liater 
128,317. 


Church  of  Holy  Cross,  318. 


J 


ALPHABETICAL  TABLE. 


35.7 


Church  of  St.  Mary  Major,  318. 
Church  of  St.  Sophia,  127. 
Church  of  St.  Sebastian,  318. 
Church  of  St.  Laurence,  318. 
Church  of  St.  Ignatius,  319. 
Cluirch  Music,  1(50,  202,  2G0. 
Church  Ornaments,  320. 
Circumccilians,  165. 
Cistercians,  257. 
Colissee  at  Rome,  317. 
St.  Columban,  20i1. 
St.  Columkille,  207. 
Columna  Anton.  87. 
Confession,  102,  103,   104,   145, 

146,  161,  220. 
Confidence  in  God,  272. 
Constantine  the  Great,  116,  122, 

127,  131,  133. 
Constantine  Copron.  231. 
Constantinople,    128,  225,    2G5, 

303. 
Constantius,  134,  135,  136. 
Convulsionarists,  151. 
St.  Cornelius,  92. 
Council  of  Jerusalem,  48. 
1st  G.  Council,  125,  131. 
2d  G.  Council,  178. 
3d  G.  Council,  194. 
4th  G.  Council,  197. 
oth  G.  Council,  205. 
6'th  G.  Council,  220. 
7th  G.  Council,  234. 
■Sth  G.  Council,  243. 
9(.h  G.  Council.  269. 
I  Oth  G.  Council,  260. 
nth  G.  Council.  269. 
12th  G.  Council,  279. 
13th  G.  Council.  279. 
14th  G.  Council,  279. 
15th  G.  Council,  290. 
16th  G.  Council,  294. 
17th  G.  Council,  301. 
18th  G.  Council,  307. 
19th  G.  Council,  at  Trent,  307. 
Council  of  Rimini,  134. 
Council  of  Sardica,  133. 
Council  Lfitrociyiale,  196. 
Council  Quincscrjit,  220. 
Council  Basil  301. 
Cross,  75,  83, 109, 122, 127,  152, 

155,  225,  238,  253. 
Crummius,  933. 
Ousades,  261 . 
Cultivation  of  Letters,  246, 


251,288,291,202,300. 
St.  Cyprian,  ^)8. 
St.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  193. 
St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  151. 
St.  Damasus,  126. 
Decline  of  the  Roman   Empire, 

185,  211. 
Didymus  of  Alexandria,  158. 
Dioclesian,  113,  121.  i 

St.  Dionysius  of  Alexandria, 

105. 
Dionysius  Exiguus,  207. 
Dioscorus,  196. 
Donatists,  125,  130,  165,  187, 
Duelling,  204. 
Dying  persons,  236. 
England  converted,  204. 
St.  Ephrem,  143. 
St.  Epiphanius,  157. 
Erasmus,  324. 
Eucharist,  37,   66,   77,  83,  100, 

lOi,    102,  103,  104,  106,  137, 

142,  145,  153,  156,    161,  164, 

166,  168,  184,  186,  189,  195, 

240,  274. 
St.  Eustatius,  166. 
Eutyches,  196. 
Evangelists,  28. 
Fasting,  83,  106,  137,  155,   157, 

167    183 
St.  Felix,  of  Valois,  276. 
Fenelon,  360. 
St.  Flavian,  178,  196. 
France  converted,  186. 
St.Francisof  Sales,  333. 
St.  Francis  Xaverius,  332. 
French  persecution,  349. 
Frederic  I.  270. 
St.  Fulgentius,  205. 
Geleriu's,  114,  121. 
Games  of  hazard,  335. 
St.  Gaudentius,  189. 
St.  Gelasius,  186, 202. 
General  Councils,  300. 
Genseric,  175,  214. 
St.  Germanus,  189,  235. 
Gibbon,  348. 
Gilbert  of  Porree,  274. 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  261,  262. 
Gothescale,  241. 
Goths,  25,  175,  176,   181,  203. 

214. 
St.  Gregory  the  Great,  201, 
Gregory  ML  256. 


358 


ALPHABETICAL  TABLE. 


St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  147. 

St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  145. 

St.      Gregory     Thaumaturgus, 

105. 
Greek  schism,  242,  305. 
Greek  empire  overthrown,  226, 

261,  305. 
Guelphs,  and  Ghibellins,  363. 
St.  Helena,  128. 
Henry  IV.  256,  257. 
Heraclius,  219,  224. 
Heresies,  3,  75,  79,  81,  130,  162, 

176,  191,  192,218,238. 
Hierarchy  of  the   Church,   32, 

162,  298. 
St.  Hilary,  136. 
B.  Holberg,  256,  208. 
Holy  Well,  228. 
Honorius,  219. 
Hunneric,  175. 
Hussites,  296. 
St.  Hyacinth,  28G. 
Hypatia,  194. 
St.  James  of  Nisibis,  144. 
Jansenius,  338. 
Iconoclaus,  230. 
St.  Jerom,  148,  158,  159. 
Jews,  57,  58,  59,  60. 
St.  Ignatius,  65,  242. 
Incorrupticoloe,  206. 
Indefectibility  of  the  Church,  16, 

18,  155,  227. 
Indulgences,  100,  180. 
Infallibility  of  the  Church,  155, 

229,  230,  249,  296. 
Intercession  of  Saints,  104,  137, 

142,  145,  150,  163, 193. 
Joan,  Pope,  a  forgery,  239. 
John  I.  198. 
John  of  Avila,  361. 
St.  John  Chrysostom,  154. 
St.  John  Damascene,  235. 
St.  John  of  Matha,  277. 
Ireland  converted,  207,  275. 
Irene,  232. 
St.  Irenaeus,  76. 
St.  Isidore,  189,  221. 
Julian  Apostate,  86. 
St.  Justin  M.  73. 
Justinian,  200, 201. 
St.  Kevin,  210. 
Knights  Hospitalers,  268. 
Knights  Templars.  2G3,  268. 


'  Lactantius,  108. 
j  Lanfranc,  254. 
Lanfrid,  241,251. 
Latiludinarians,   227. 
St.  Laurence  Justinian,  207. 
Laurence  Scupoli,  333. 
St.  Laurence  Toole,    269,  27:. 

276. 
Lawful  Mission,  33,  81. 
St.  Leo  the  Great,  183. 
St.  Leo  IV.  238. 
St.  Leo  IX.  255. 
Leo  the  Isaurian,  230. 
St.  Lewis  IX.  266. 
Libellatici,  100. 
Liberius,  126,  135. 
Licinius,  122,  123. 
Litanies,  2U2. 

Lombards,  203,  244,  245,  246. 
Lucilla,  128. 
Lucius,  71,  204. 
Luther,  322,  323. 
Macedonius,  178. 
Mahomet  II.  302. 
Mahometanism,  223,  224,   225, 

266. 
St.  Malachy,  208,  274,  275. 
Manicheans,  162,  268,  260. 
Marcionites,  69. 
Marcus  Aurelius,  85,  87. 
Mariner's  compass,  266. 
Mark  of  Ephesus,  302. 
Marks  of  the  Church,  353. 
Maronites,  309. 
St.  Martin,  138,  220. 
Martyrs,   53,   62,   89,    90,   110. 

Ill,  115,  116,  117,  118,   119, 

172. 
Mass,  102,   104,    153,   154,   164. 

168,  186,  199,  202,  203,  221 , 

236,  285. 
Maxentius,  122. 
Maximian,  112. 
Maximinus,  109,  116,  123. 
St.  Maximus,  189,  220. 
St.  Melities,  177. 
Meletians,  130,  133. 
Messalians,  151. 
Millenarians,  52. 
Minucius  Felix,  96. 
Miracles,  19,  22,  2.3,  24,  28,  20, 

35, 138, 1,39,  142, 152, 192,  193, 

241,  274,  291. 


d 


A I  .PIl  ABETICAL  TABLE. 


559 


Moi.ka,  115,  145,  1G7,  1C8,  169, 

206. 
JVIonothelltes,  21c. 
Montanists,  09,  70. 
Mortification,  258, 273,  285. 
Nailor,  340. 
Nero,  52,  Gl,  211,  212. 
Nestorius,  193. 
New  Gospellers,  329,  330. 
Nicephorus,  232,  233. 
St.  Nicephorus,  241,  242. 
St.  Nicholas  of  Tolentin,  290. 
Nicholas  V.  302. 
St.  Norbert,  274. 
Normans,  210,  252. 
Novatian,  93. 
Odoacer,  185,  186,  214. 
St.  Optatus,  164. 
Ordeal  trials,  236. 
Origen,  106. 
St.  Pacian,  142. 
Pagan  Philosophers,  45,  46,  47, 

49,  63,  64. 
Pagan  Rome,  181, 182,  185,  199, 

205,211,212,213,214,215. 
Paintinor,  103. 
Palestine,  226,  261. 
Pantheon,  213,  216. 
Passage  to  East  Indies,  300. 
Paschasius  Radbert,  241. 
Patriarchs,  297. 
St.  Patrick,  182,  276. 
Patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  245. 
St.  Paul  Apostle,  21,  22,  23,  24, 

55. 
St.  Paul  H.  167. 
St.  Paulinus  of  Nola,  139. 
Pelagius,  188. 
Penitent  canon.^,  103,  105,  125, 

179. 
Pepin,  237,  243,  244,  245. 
Persecutors,  119,  120,  174. 
St.  Peter,  Apostle,  15,  19,  22, 29, 

30,  31,  32,  .52,  56,  145. 
St.  Peter  Chrysol,  18S. 
Peter  Leo,  269. 
Peter  Lombard,  277. 
St.  Peter  Nolasco,  281. 
St.  Peter  Verona,  287. 
St.  Philip  Beniti,  283. 
Photius,  243. 
St.  Porphyrius,  157. 
Prag.  Sanction,  301,  302,  307. 


Prayers  for  the  dead,  83,  104, 

105,  143,  153,  154,  161,  163, 

230. 
Pride,  63,  70,  84,  141. 
Primitive  Christians,  36,  37,  38, 

67,  68,  77,  81, 88,  91, 113,  114." 
Printing  Types,  300. 
Priscillianists,  138.. 
St.  Proclus,  192. 
St.  Prosper,  192. 
Prosperity,  110,  127, 134,  303. 
Protection  of  the   Church,    53, 

119,  120,  127,  132,  210,  227, 

228,  248,  249. 
Quartodecimans,  72. 
Rabanus  Maurus,  240. 
St.  Raymond  Nonnatus,  283. 
St.  Raymond  of  Pen,  282. 
Reason,  39, 40,  44,  325,  326- 
Relics,  85,  131. 
Religion,  33,  35,  41, 42,  43. 
Religious  Orders,  282,  309. 
St.  Remiffius,  187. 
Resurrection,  79. 
Revelation,  40. 
Rogations,  190. 
Rousseau,  348. 
Rule  of  Faith,  15,  24.  27. 
Sacred  Images,  231, 232. 
Sacrifice,  77,  80. 
Sadducees,  19. 
Sanctity  of  the  Church,  355. 
Saints  in  the  worst  of  times,  259, 

289,  333. 
Sapor  II.  176. 
Saracens,  222. 
Saul  converted,  23. 
Scandals,  49. 

Schism  in  the  West,  238,  290, 
Sacred  Scripture,  27,  28. 
Self-denial,  258. 
Self-love,  272,  273. 
Seneca,  43. 

Septimius  Severus,  88. 
St.  Silverius,  199,  200. 
Simon  Magus,  50,  51,  52. 
Socinianism,  324. 
St.  Sophronius,  221. 
St.  Stephen  first  M.  17. 
St.  Stephen  Ab.  232. 
St.  Stephen  P.  94. 
Sufferings  and  afflictions,  110 
Suicide,  44. 


,'}G0 


ALPHABETICAL  TABLE. 


St.  Sulpicius,  139. 

Tamerlane,  22G. 

St.  Tarasius,  233. 

Tertullian,  80. 

Theatre,  82. 

Theban  Legion,  117. 

Theodoret,  193. 

Theodoric,  198. 

Theodorus  the  Studite,  241. 

Theodosius  the  Great,  &c.   177. 

Theophilus,  78. 

St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  384. 

Thomas  of  Jesus,  310. 

Thomas  of  Kempis,  299. 

Thundering  Legion,  86. 

Totila,21.j. 

Tradition,  47. 

Trajan,  05. 


Turks.  220. 
St.  Udalric,  253. 
Valens,  195. 
Valerian,  120. 
Vandals,  185. 
Venice  founded,  IS-l. 


Ves 


pasian. 


G4. 


Victor,  72. 

Vigilius,  200. 

St.  Vincent  of  Lerins,  190. 

Virginity,  37. 

Visible  Head  of  the  Clwirch,  14. 

Voltaire,  257. 

Waldenses,  281. 

St.  Wenefride,  222. 

White  Mass,  113. 

Zachary,  237. 

Zisca,  290. 


(^ETHSEMAM!  ABB-Y 
GETHSEMANI.  P,  Q.  ky.' 


I 


I 


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